A Moonlit Walk
by Marina Kashu
Summary: Warning: yaoi or shounen ai, whichever you wanna call it, plot twists, randomness, etc. MalikRyou, Yugi, Yami, Bakura, & Seto find matches later on. At the moment, Bakura refuses to cooperate with the authoress's demands and therefore we must torment him.
1. chapter 1

Hello people! More ficcies! Fun, fun. I'm sure we're all overjoyed.

I am having trouble with muses right now, meaning I have NONE (sob!) so no interestingly funny conversations. Maybe…nah. Never mind. Ignore random ramblings.

Warning: YAOI! YAOI YAOI YAOI YAOI! Don't like, don't read. Umm…if limes are kissing, there's that, but no lemons. Just not my style. Pairings: Ryou/Malik for sure, maybe others later. I'm more likely to do a specific pairing if I am asked for it. Also, my randomness, as this story is basically a melting pot for all of my Ryou/Malik ideas.

Disclaimer: umm….why do we even need to do these things? I mean, isn't it obvious that none of us own Yugioh? If we did, I sure wouldn't be writing fanfics-I'd just put my ideas straight into the TV show. Wouldn't anyone? But then it couldn't be shown on Kids WB and stuff…oh well. Too bad.

Ok, I'll stop delaying and let you read now.

Chapter 1

The night was silent, seemingly calm and serene. But the darkness was simply a cover-a cover for many things. Underneath a blanket of darkness, many creatures lurked, some good-and some not.

Ryou had been unlucky there-he'd managed to run into the bad kind. At the moment, he was running down a narrow ally trying to escape from some thugs, and managing to get more lost every minute. Where was this? He didn't see anything familiar…who would have imagined that a simple evening walk could end like this?

He kept running, although he was almost completely exhausted. 'Have to try to find somewhere I recognize…'

Suddenly he tripped over some trash that had spilled onto the ground. He went flying forwards, landing facedown on the pavement. The gang of thugs slowly gathered around him as he slowly sat up. When he glanced up, the expression on Ryou's face was one of fear and pain, as well as exhaustion. There was nothing he could do to defend himself at the moment. All he could do was wait….

"Hehehe…what have we got here? A little freak with money. And what do we do with freaks, boys?" Their leader was big, with brown spiky hair and a tattoo. At his question, all the other thugs started laughing softly and advanced on the helpless boy.

Suddenly they stopped advancing. Ryou wasn't looking anymore, but he could tell because the footsteps had stopped. The young boy looked up hesitantly, wondering why his attackers had stopped.

He saw the silhouette of another person, a boy with long, slightly shaggy hair and a slim but muscular frame. Just from what Ryou could gather from the silhouette, this was the most handsome boy he'd ever seen. The shadowed figure looked very familiar…but from where? And who did it remind him of? He couldn't remember…maybe from one of Bakura's escapades. That would make sense-he often had vague recollections of his yami's exploits, but they were never quite real, almost like a dream.

The figure spoke. "Hey, what do you idiots think you're doing?" All right, that voice was definitely familiar. How odd. It was almost like he'd actually met this person. Usually memories of Bakura's adventures were vague and barely even more than a dream.

The thugs weren't really all that scared, though. Ryou thought that the boy had made a rash decision and would probably be beaten up for his trouble. If only he'd stayed home…but he'd had to get out for a while, he couldn't stand being around Bakura for much longer. His yami was very kind to him, if slightly insane, but he could be completely overprotective. Especially since Battle City for some reason, but he wouldn't tell Ryou why. Well, Bakura often kept secrets, so this wasn't especially unusual.

A big fight ensued, and Ryou watched with a horrified expression on his face. He didn't like violence of any form. But eventually the familiar stranger sent the bullies running. (Meaning I'm terrible at fight scenes but tend to put them into stories because what happens as a result is important somehow. Why do I do this to myself?)

The oddly familiar boy walked over to Ryou. The pale boy could now see that his rescuer had long blonde hair and very tan skin. He also held a thick golden rod. How had he managed to miss that before? On the end of the rod was a ball with…the eye of Horus on it? But only the millennium Items had that. Strange…was this another one? He couldn't seem to remember…it was almost as if the memory was blocked.

"Hey, you all right?" The unfamiliar person asked. He reached down to help Ryou up.

"Yes, thanks to you. Thank you." He looked deep into violet eyes. Why was his heart suddenly fluttering? "I'm sorry, but I don't think I know your name."

"You don't remember, I suppose. Well, it was your yami I'd met before…whatever. I'm Malik." So this was one of Bakura's friends. No wonder he looked vaguely familiar.

"You sure you're OK? Those guys didn't look like they were being friendly."

"Yes, I'm positive, Malik." Ryou had to smile here. This kind of treatment was exactly how Bakura would react.

"You sure that you're sure? You could come back to my place if you want…" well, that was an appealing idea. For some reason, Ryou wanted to get to know this boy better.

"I'm sure that I'm fine, but seeing your home sounds fine to me." Ryou smiled.

The older boy broke into a smile as well. "Great! It's just around the corner. Do you need to call anyone?"

"No, it's fine. Dad's away again, and Bakura needs to loosen up anyways. He's gotten overprotective recently." Somehow being with Malik made Ryou very relaxed and calm. He felt like he could tell the Egyptian anything. Wait…how had he known that Malik was Egyptian? But somehow, he was certain of it.

He barely remembered the walk to Malik's house, as he was absorbed in a mix of thoughts and conversation. (that I'm not gonna bore you with and I have no ideas for. They just get there somehow.)

Entering the apartment that Malik called home, Ryou saw a few small but cozy and well-furnished rooms. The kitchen was clean, although not perfectly neat, and the living room had a large comfortable-looking couch and a fair-sized TV. There was a door off to the right that looked as though it led to Malik's bedroom.

Malik walked in behind him and saw Ryou looking around at everything. "Like it?"

"Oh, it's wonderful." Ryou had been so absorbed in his observations that Malik's words had startled him. "So cozy. It feels like…home, actually. Except cleaner, as Bakura still seems to find a way to get in fights with the vacuum cleaner."

They both began to laugh, imagining the white-haired spirit trying to attack the vacuum cleaner with one of his many knives. It was a funny idea. (just think about it!)

Ryou was the first to calm down, with Malik close behind. Slowly they walked over to the sofa and both sat down, still chatting like old friends.

Eventually Malik asked, "Do you want to watch a movie or something?"

"Sure." Ryou replied. "That's fine with me."

So they picked out a movie. They ended up choosing The Grudge, as Ryou had never seen it and Malik said it was good. Malik set up the movie as Ryou found some popcorn. They both settled down on the sofa, which was every bit as comfortable as it looked, just as the movie began.

Ryou had been enjoying the movie so far. There were some scary parts, but for some reason they hadn't really bothered him all that much. Usually horror movies terrified him. Hmm…Oh well. It wasn't worth thinking about. Always, the movie probably wouldn't go on for too much longer. It looked like they had passed the middle and were approaching the end of the film.

Suddenly they came to the scene where Karen found the two bodies in the closet. Ryou practically screamed and immediately buried his face in Malik's side. He held on to the Egyptian tightly and refused to let go until Malik gasped out that he couldn't breathe. At that point he loosened his grip-slightly. Very slightly.

Malik could tell that the younger boy had been thoroughly startled, and he wrapped his arm around Ryou to help calm him down. Hmm-that the only reason? Malik jumped at the sudden voice in his mind.

/Marik…DON'T DO THAT! And what are you talking about? he asked, using the mental link that was shared by all yami and hikari pairs.

Well, lets see…you step into the middle of a fight just to help out a guy who you've never really met before…then you invite him home…THEN you wrap your arm around him…gee I wonder what I'm talking about!

/I DON'T like Ryou in that way, if that's what you're trying to say!

Whatever… His yami didn't sound convinced. Malik decided to drop it. He would never admit it, but he wasn't so sure that his yami wasn't right. (note the double negative people…he means that Marik's right)

Slowly, Ryou began to calm down, and they finished the movie in relative peace, although Ryou still never did let go of Malik's arm. Not that Malik minded….and not that he would admit that he didn't mind….

Eventually, long after all of the credits had run, Ryou glanced over at the clock. He gasped.

"Oh my. This late already? Bakura will be worried sick….I should really be going."

Malik finally had to admit it to himself-he didn't want to see Ryou leave. His yami had been right-he hated it when that happened. But Ryou couldn't feel the same way, not if he remembered anything at all of Battle City. Did he remember? He hadn't acted like he did…

"Oh, all right. It is getting late." Malik didn't say what else he was thinking, either: that it would be nice to have a yami who actually cared enough to worry when you got home late. His own spirit enjoyed teasing him more than watching out for him; in many ways, Marik was really more of a younger brother to him than a yami. Albeit an insane little brother….well, that worked. After all, how many people claimed that their younger siblings were fully sane?

Ryou had retrieved his coat and was standing by the door. Malik walked over and opened the door for him, bowing as a servant might to his lord. The pale boy giggled as he walked by.

Suddenly, Malik stood straight, pulling Ryou close to him as he did. The young boy gasped as he felt himself pulled into a tight embrace. He stiffened as he felt Malik's lips brush past his, but quickly relaxed. When a hesitant tongue brushed against his lips, he opened them, allowing the Egyptian to gain entrance to his mouth.

Their tongues danced as Ryou moaned gently into Malik's mouth. He felt so…comfortable, really. Even though he'd only just barely met Malik for the first time, the first time that he could remember at least, he felt like he belonged here.

They broke apart, both gasping for breath. Malik looked shaken. He looked down, seeming startled.

"Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No, really, it's my fault-"

There was a long silence. Eventually, Ryou said, "I should get going." He walked slowly, calmly, still trying to figure out what had just happened. Suddenly, he found himself outside his own front door, and he walked inside.

Bakura jumped up. "Ryou! I was worried sick, where were you? Don't do that to me!" He hugged Ryou close to him. "Really, I was afraid that something had happened."

Ryou didn't answer. In fact, he seemed lost in a pleasant dream, as he had a slight smile on his face.

"Ryou….Hikari! Snap out of it!" Bakura waved his hand up and down in front of Ryou's face.

Ryou jumped, startled. "Oh, sorry, Bakura. What were you saying?"

"Where were you? You're acting strange."

"It's nothing." Ryou was pretty sure that Bakura wouldn't approve of him having spent the evening, and part of the night at least, with one of the thief king's old allies.

"No it's not. Remember the mind link? I can-and will-find out, especially if you don't want to tell me." Great. Ryou knew what that meant; Bakura would go through the memory of the evening if he didn't know at least some of what happened. Even when he knew that his yami meant well, it wasn't a pleasant process.

He told. Big surprise.

When he finished, Bakura looked at him, the spirit's eyes filled with worry. Manu thought that the 5000 year old spirit of a tomb robber was incapable of caring, but Ryou knew better. His yami really was like an older brother to him, so of course he would worry. That was just how things worked.

"Listen," Bakura said, his voice as troubled as his eyes. "I know Malik, as he told you. But-Ryou, he's not safe. Really. Even I don't trust him. Really-

"You should stay away from him."

Well, there we go. FINALLY finished with the first chapter! Took me a while too… I'm a slow typer.

Please press the pretty purple button and review! Flames will be used to warm my FREEZING fingers. Poor fingers….I can't type with gloves on. Maybe if I get many flames my feet can stay warm too…..hmmm…..


	2. chapter 2

Well, this is fairly fast for me…..I usually don't get started on another chapter for a while. Too many ideas for this fic, I guess. And I don't have much else to do but write. Those are both good reasons.

Disclaimer: This is boring. WHY DO WE EVEN SAY THESE? All those lawyers must be really stupid if they think we all believe that we own these shows. Let's be straightforward: Don't own now. Probably never will. If I did, we wouldn't be able to watch the show on cartoon network. Got it, idiot attorneys? (Throws sticks at stupid lawyers who are chasing her)

Warning: If you haven't noticed already, and it was fairly obvious, THIS IS YAOI! IT'S NOT GOING AWAY! So all you people who think that's wrong or something, GO AWAY! You have had fair warning. Also, randomness will probably feature in at least some small role.

Hikari Flame: HIIIII! Thank you for the email! Always like to talk to people with interests like mine. Umm….let's see…first of all, you're the first reviewer for a new story, so…have a virtual plushie! So VERY useful, I'm sure. And well, I'm glad that SOMEONE feels bad for my fingers. Thanks for the review!

Siiarrei: I understand the whole running out of time idea! That gets annoying sometimes…now that this is up, you can just review for it instead of anonymously, I guess.

And here you go!

Chapter 2

"You should stay away from him."

Ryou sat frozen as his yami spoke. This was so confusing….he knew that Bakura was just trying to look out for him, that the spirit wanted him to be safe-but Malik didn't seem like he would ever even think about harming him.

"Ryou? You all right?" Bakura's tone was worried, just as the hikari would have expected-if he hadn't still been lost in his thoughts. He'd also begun to tremble slightly, although not noticeably.

Slowly Ryou returned to reality, but Bakura's words still didn't really sink in. He stood up with a comparatively blank expression, but there was a tinge of sadness if you looked closely.

"I'm rather tired, Bakura. I'm going to go to sleep."

The thief king could tell how upset his light was, no matter how hard Ryou tried to hide it. But he also could tell that now was not the time to talk about it. "All right. See you tomorrow."

The house was quiet as all light shut off. Bakura didn't go to bed though. He had an old acquaintance to talk to-mainly about this particular colleague's treatment of his hikari…..

Bakura walked through the city, hoping that his light's few memories of walking home from Malik's home would be able to lead him to the same location. Suddenly, the ring began to pull, and one of its arrows pointed towards a nearby apartment building.

"Excellent….Malik still has the rod. Finding his apartment should be no problem, none at all…"

He entered the building, and let the ring guide him to the right apartment. Bakura's knock was sharp and loud, just the opposite of what Ryou would have done. Well, he wasn't Ryou.

A few seconds later, Malik answered the door, the expression on his face immediately changing to one of surprise, then into a carefully guarded expression which gave away nothing.

"Bakura. What a surprise."

"Is it now?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, let's see….hmm-maybe something to do with Ryou? My _hikari_?"

Immediately Malik's expression became even more blank, if that were even possible. "And?"

"And I want to know WHAT THE FUCK YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE DOING!"

The blank expression was slowly replaced by one of comprehension, as it took Malik a while to figure out exactly what the thief king meant.

"Why don't you come in, Bakura? The whole building doesn't need to know about our personal lives."

Bakura shoved past Malik as he entered the apartment. He immediately wheeled around and opened his mouth to begin shouting at Malik. However, somehow the Egyptian managed to get in a full sentence before the spirit began ranting at him.

"At least give me a chance to explain." Eight words were the most that Malik could possibly have managed, and he still had to speak extremely quickly.

Bakura paused before saying, "You have five minutes."

Quickly, Malik began to explain. "I went for a walk. Ryou was being chased by some bullies. He tripped and fell. I went and helped him out. WE came back here and watched a movie. He got scared at one point and grabbed my arm, but he got over that fairly quickly. Once it was over, we noticed that it had gotten late. He got his coat and prepared to leave. He said he'd be fine walking home alone. On the way out, I-I-"

"You kissed him." Bakura stated it flatly, showing that it wasn't disputable. That idea was further strengthened by Malik's blush.

"I couldn't resist. Bakura….I think I've had a crush on him ever since that first time-remember, back in battle city? When you went back into the ring. He was barely conscious, I think, because I don't think he remembers it. Anyways….I resist, I guess. I would never hurt him, though."

"Yeah. Like you never even suggested harming him in Battle City." (1)

"Most of Battle City was at least partially controlled by my yami. I can't send thoughts unless he's in control, which he wasn't at the time."

Bakura didn't look convinced.

The Egyptian was growing slightly desperate now. "Look, Bakura, I would never do anything that I thought might harm Ryou. Never. I….I think I love him." As he said these last five words, Malik's voice grew quiet, so that the tomb robber had to strain to hear him.

Bakura did hear though. And although he kenw that Malik was an accomplished liar, something told him that this was the truth.

"I can't keep Ryou from doing what he wants, Malik, but you know I don't trust you. If you harm him in any way…." Bakura's meaning was obvious, even if he never said precisely what he would do to Malik.

The next morning, Ryou woke up late. That was to be expected, considering what time he had gone to bed. He went downstairs into the kitchen, not seeing Bakura anywhere. That was strange….Bakura rarely overslept. In his past, oversleeping could have meant death, and the habit of sleeping very little at all had carried over to present day.

On the counter was a note. Well. That would probably explain the thief king's mysterious absence. Ryou picked up the note and quickly read it.

_Ryou_

_I'll be gone for most of the day at least. May be back late. What I said last night still stands, but I'm not going to force you to do anything. See you later._

_Bakura_

Reading the last few sentences of Bakura's note caused their conversation last night to finally sink in. Ryou suddenly found he wasn't in the mood for breakfast. In fact, he was almost in tears. He walked into the living room and lay down on the sofa.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. Ryou glanced up but decided against answering it. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now…

It rang again. Whoever it was wasn't going away. 'Maybe I should just answer it….or maybe they'll assume that no one's home.

It rang for a third time. Ryou finally got up to answer the door, trying to come up with excuses for not answering the first or second time. He opened the door and gasped with surprise.

"M-Malik?"

The other teen shuffled uncomfortably. "Hey, Ryou."

A brief but uncomfortable silence reigned before Ryou asked, "Would you like to come in?"

Malik nodded slightly and Ryou stepped aside to allow him into the house. "Listen, Ryou, I need to talk to you."

Ryou sat down and motioned for the Egyptian to do the same. "Yes. We do need to talk." His voice was not cold or commanding, but gentle and calm. However, Malik could detect a hint of sadness hidden deep within the words. Maybe even a little bit of something else-regret? No…what was that emotion?

Suddenly, Malik noticed that Ryou was trembling slightly, as if he was trying to hold back tears. He wrapped his arm around the hikari, and felt the teenager lean back against him.

"Ryou, what's wrong? Please….tell me."

The silence that followed was interrupted only by Ryou's soft sobs as he buried his face in the other teen's shoulder. Malik wrapped both arms around his crush, knowing that he wouldn't move until Ryou calmed down. Which did eventually happen. Malik still didn't move, and Ryou gave no signs of wanting the older teen to leave. They sat like that for a while, both enjoying the feeling of being so close to the other.

Eventually Malik pulled away so that he could look into his love's eyes. "Ryou? Can you tell me what's wrong? Does-does it have to do with last night?"

Ryou averted his eyes. After a few seconds, he replied, "Yes, I suppose it does." His voice was quiet, even more so than usual.

Malik raised his hand to the younger boy's chin, gently forcing a pair of beautiful chocolate eyes to look into his own violet ones. He asked in a low voice, "Did you mind

-you know…"

Ryou looked away once again, his pure white hair falling over his eyes. "It depends."

That startled the Egyptian. He hadn't expected that answer, just a simple yes or no. Ryou began to talk again, though, snapping Malik out of his thoughts.

"Did you mean it?"

"Huh?" Malik was confused now.

Ryou looked up at him willingly for the first time, but the look in his troubled eyes disturbed the older teen. "Did you mean what you did? We both know what kisses symbolize."

'Oh, that's what he meant…' Malik thought. He brought his hand up to Ryou's face again. "Of course I meant it. Why would I have done that otherwise?"

Ryou's eyes softened, and he placed his own hand over Malik's. "Then….no, I can't say that I minded one bit."

Malik smiled as he looked into the younger boy's face. "Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I did it again?" Ryou simply smiled in reply and wrapped his arma around Malik's neck.

Their lips met gently at first, but it quickly evolved into a passionate kiss. Slowly, Malik ran his tongue along his love's bottom lip, feeling a shiver of pleasure run down the younger teen's back. Ryou opened his mouth obligingly, and Malik slipped his tongue inside instantly, memorizing every inch of the pale angel's mouth.

It was a minute or two before they began to worry about breathing. When that happened, they broke off from the kiss as Ryou snuggled into Malik's chest.

All right, that ends the second chapter! Bakura's worries seem to be misplaced….but how can Malik gain his trust? It's pretty clear that Ryou's ideas don't really matter all that much here-Malik must prove himself. Hmmmm…I _wonder _ how he'll do that….hehehe….must resist being evil…..

Please read and review!


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, before I start, SORRY for the extremely late update. Really! I had a really bad case of writer's block for three or four months. And I'm finally over it, so I'm typing as fast as I can. The sporadic trips that have come up over the summer haven't really helped things there. I will try to get this chapter up before I leave for camp for two weeks.

Disclaimer: I'm sure you got it by now.

Warning: YAOI! Though I don't know why you've read this far if you have a problem with that…also randomness, etc. And rambling. Lots of that.

And now for review responses!

Hikari Flame: Actually I got major writer's block for evilness….so for at least the first part of the chapter I'll be nice. Later on I got ideas.

Molly( ): I have no clue if people can breathe while French kissing. You see, I've never tried it. I'll trust you there. Yes, I do just like writing fluff, even if it's not particularly easy for me. Was it that obvious?

Demonfer: thanks for reviewing! I got 2 from you, so I'm just going to blend them into one response because I'm being lazy. Well it's 8:30 AM, what do you expect? Anyways, glad you like kissing. I'd have to agree with what you said about that….hehehe…by the way, it was Bakura who said that. I know I sometimes start with the same word a lot. I'm trying to fix that, but it's hard. I've had that particular problem for years…I'm working on it. I still don't like it, but I would have been surprised if no one had noticed.

Yamijenny: Glad you like it so far. Did you read the prequel? If not, go read Thief's Brother BEFORE you read this chapter.

Kotori-chan: Yes, fluff is good. Planning to continue!

Uzulu: First of all, I'm glad you like my style. Thanks. But have you noticed that a lot of stories on this site don't follow the information on the TV show exactly? If they did, every story would be almost exactly the same. It's more fun--for both authors and readers--just to let our imaginations roam. It makes for more interesting stuff, too. I know all of this stuff--I just disregarded it.

I'm surprised I didn't get more reviews for the last chapter of Thief's Brother yet. I thought a whole lot of people were going to try to kill me somehow…or at least yell at me a lot. Maybe they were too mad at me to review… :-( Anyways, here are review responses--or really, RESPONSE--for that last chapter.

Molly ( ): ….I did tell you ahead of time, you know. Why didn't you get mad at me then instead? (People, I told molly because I know her and I was asking her if she thought it was a good way to end before I was sure how to end that story.)

Chapter 3

Bakura walked in late that evening, having no clue what had happened earlier in the day. Whenever he went off on his little--trips, the link shaped by yami and hikari was always blocked. He didn't want his light to be exposed to all of his bad habits, and Ryou understood that.

As he walked in, he opened the link again. There was no reason to keep it closed here. From what he could tell, Ryou was fast asleep and possibly having pleasant dreams, as he radiated happiness and satisfaction. The spirit smiled. He would make sure not to wake his hikari.

He wandered around the house. It was night by now, but the thief king didn't feel tired. The spirit also knew that he could wander around without disturbing his hikari--skills left over from his days as a tomb robber. Bakura wished he could think of that time as "fond memories," but they were anything but that. Better not to think about it….

He walked into the living room. Suddenly, the spirit stopped, staring openly at the sofa. There was Ryou, curled up in Malik's arms! Well, he couldn't deny that he'd expected it. After what had happened…back then….no, better not to think of it. He shook his head, hoping to clear it.

Both of the boys in front of him were fast asleep, but it was obvious that it would be impossible to move either without waking both. Bakura shook his head again and left them there, knowing from the pleasant feelings he was receiving through the mind link that his hikari was happy.

The Next Day

Ryou yawned as he awoke, feeling warmer than he usually did when he got up. Slowly, he looked up at his "pillow," momentarily surprised to see Malik. He got over that quickly and burrowed deeper into the older teen's chest.

As he snuggled closer, he felt his new boyfriend stir slightly, then felt a pair of pale lilac eyes upon the back of his head. Looking up into Malik's eyes, the pale-haired boy smiled gently.

"Morning," Malik whispered as be bent down to steal a kiss from the younger teen.

Eventually Ryou stood up. "Breakfast time!"

Malik glanced over at him before starting into the kitchen. "So long as I don't have to cook--Isis hasn't let me near the stove since I accidentally blew up our old one."

The pale boy began to giggle. "Then I guess it's a good thing I know how to cook. Come on, I'll teach you how to make donuts"

They set about making food. Ryou made dough and dipped it in boiling oil while Malik sprinkled powdered sugar on top of the newly made donuts. Soon they had enough to start eating.

Bakura walked in, announcing, "I smell food!" Suddenly, he paused. "Hikari…."

"Mmph…yesh?" Ryou had just taken a large bite of donut.

"How many of those do you plan on eating?" Ryou just smiled at his yami's question. The spirit sat down groaning.

Malik looked over at him. Maybe Bakura didn't really like the idea of him being there, but at least he hadn't told him to leave yet. And he wanted to know why the thief was acting like that…."Hey Bakura? What's with the groan?"

The answer was a single question that said it all. "Have you ever seen Ryou on a sugar high?"

A few minutes later the Egyptian had definitely seen enough of a hyperactive Ryou. Bakura had made it clear that if Malik wanted to date his hikari, then the Egyptian was the one that got to deal with sugar highs and other stuff like that. Well, he couldn't deny that his boyfriend was still really cute….just in a more BOUNCY way than usual.

Lost in thought, he was surprised when Ryou suddenly jumped on his back. "Malik! Will you give me a piggyback ride?" Laughing, he agreed. Who could say no to that face?

Eventually the Egyptian was able to get Ryou to go for a walk instead of bouncing around the house all day. Walking down the sidewalk towards the park, the pale hikari ran ahead of his lover, yelling at his boyfriend to hurry up. Malik did so, and soon they reached an area of the city that was covered in trees, grass, and paths. Children played on the playground while their mothers watched, and the park held an aura of peace and tranquility.

Ryou ran ahead again as Malik slowed to a walk. Out of breath, he looked around for a drinking fountain. Finally finding one, he got a drink and looked around for his boyfriend. 'Where can he have gone that fast?' he wondered. He'd only looked away for maybe a minute, and the pale hikari was gone. And it would be noticeable if Ryou was there….white hair wasn't exactly common in Japan.

"Ryou….Hey Ry!" He called. "Where'd you go?" There was no answer. Malik began to feel worried; it wasn't like the other teen to disappear like that. "Ryou, this isn't funny. Where are you?" The Egyptian found himself running down a narrow trail boardered by thick trees. His boyfriend could be just a few feet off the trail and he'd never see him…

He became more desperate as he got farther into a forest, with no sign of the missing teen. Suddenly, he heard a noise to the side of the path, a few yards ahead of him. It sounded like two people were fighting….

'Well,' he thought, 'at least it might be worth checking out.' Malik plunged into the bushes, making sure to be quiet enough that no one would hear him coming. He didn't want whoever was fighting to attack him, too.

Soon he could see what was going on. It looked like some guy who looked like he spent a little too much time at the gym was trying to drag a much smaller boy away. The smaller guy was putting up a struggle, but….

Then he noticed the smaller boy's silvery hair.

He jumped out from the bush he'd been behind. "Ryou!" he shouted. Both of the other teens looked at him. Ryou's eyes widened in recognition, and his struggles increased. By now Malik had noticed the muffled sounds coming from his boyfriend, and the hand covering his mouth.

He walked up to the other boy, who was quite a bit bulkier than him. Well, so were most people--as a vegetarian, he stayed pretty thin. Of course, that didn't mean he was weak….but a lot of people didn't realize that.

"Let him go." He said quietly.

The other teen just smirked at him. "And what're you gonna do about it? Make me?" Malik simply stared at him for a minute or two, before suddenly attacking, surprising the bigger boy.

All he could think was, 'Hope Ryou got out of the way….'

The fight didn't last as long as Malik had expected. Apparently, big muscles slowed people down….'Makes it easy for the rest of us,' he thought.

He quickly ran over to where Ryou had fallen, pulling the teen into his arms. "Ry, you all right? What happened?" The younger boy looked up at him, eyes full of tears, before collapsing against him, sobbing. Malik wrapped his arms more tightly around his young boyfriend, pulling the hikari closer to his chest. "Ry, it's ok, I'm here…." He whispered softly.

Suddenly there was a crashing in the bushes. Both teens looked up, startled, as Bakura ran into the clearing. "What the--" he exclaimed. "Hikari, what…." He knelt over by his hikari, who still hadn't spoken a word. Suddenly, he looked over at Malik. "What happened here?"

Malik shrugged as he answered. "Not really sure. When I got here, some guy was trying to drag him off. I don't really know what happened before that, and Ry hasn't said anything."

The spirit glanced down at the pale teen. Using the mental link, he asked, 'Hikari? You want to tell us what happened? If you don't you can show me and I'll tell Malik.' The teen didn't need to answer; the images that began to show in Bakura's head were proof that he'd gone with the second option.

()()()(flashback)()()()

Ryou was running down the path through the forest, using up the energy he'd gotten from the donuts. Suddenly, he saw a large teen standing ahead of him, blocking the path. He slowed to a walk, stopping a few yards in front of the other boy. "Excuse me," he said, walking forward as if to pass by the other person. However, the bulky teen stepped in front of him to block the path again.

"Where do you think you're going?" he said, his voice deep and grating. Bakura felt his hikari's confusion at this comment, and then a sense of fear as the other teen continued. "No answer? Then I think you with me." The last three words were spoken quietly, and the bigger teen began to grin as he spoke. "Yes, that's a good idea…." With that, he grabbed Ryou's arm and began to drag him into the woods. The pale teen began to struggle, only to have his arm twisted behind him. He screamed in pain, and his attacker clamped a large hand over his mouth. "Quiet, baka! Wouldn't want anyone to hear you, now would we?" His voice lowered to a murmur as he pushed Ryou farther into the woods. "We can have lots of fun together…lots of fun…." His hand let go of Ryou's arm and slid down his back, stopping at his butt. The hikari began to panic, thrashing and doing everything he could to escape, to no avail.

At that point, Malik burst into the clearing. Bakura knew what happened after this, so he closed the link, ending the memory.

()()()(end flashback--I hope you all guessed that…)()()()

Bakura quickly explained what he'd seen to Malik, keeping his hikari close to him as he did so. When he finished, Malik reached for Ryou, pulling his boyfriend close to his chest. "Oh Ry…." The boy curled up against him, sobbing again. "Shh, Ryou, it's OK, I'm here…" The only thing important to him right now was to comfort his Ryou…'wait…' he thought. 'My Ryou?' Then he settled down, holding the younger teen as close to him as he could. 'All right, then. My Ryou.'

Bakura's thoughts were very different as he watched the couple. 'Just like then….why is this happening again?'

Later that day, Ryou had fallen asleep in Malik's arms. They were all at Ryou's father's house, although currently it was just the teen living there, along with his yami; his father was still in Egypt, working at his latest dig. The couple was sitting on one of the sofas in the living room when Bakura walked into the room. "Hey," he said. "Can I talk to you about something?"

The Egyptian glanced over at him, startled. Apparantly he hadn't noticed the tomb robber enter. "Sure," he said quietly, "so long as you don't wake him up." He tilted his head towards the pale teen in his lap.

Bakura smiled. "No problem." He sighed as he flopped down next to Malik. "Listen…about what I said a few days ago…..I think today proved more than you realize." After all, Malik couldn't remember the past…could he? Bakura didn't think so. So he couldn't realize that things were working out the same way as they did in Egypt….

In Malik's lap, Ryou lay dreaming. In his mind, a whole scene was playing out….scenes flashed by, then faded, only to be replaced by another scene.

()()()(dream sequence)()()()

He was running down a narrow city street, close behind someone who he somehow knew to be Bakura…but in the dream, Bakura wasn't his yami, he was his brother, and he wasn't a tomb robber, he just stole sometimes when they needed it to survive. He wasn't sure where their parents were….

Then that scene disappeared just as some guards grabbed them, and he noticed that Bakura was unconscious….

Then he was in a small, dark room, crying. Bakura was gone, he didn't know where he went….he didn't know where he was….

And then he was running around with Malik….it was definitely Malik, not just someone who looked the same. He just knew it was.

And then it was night. He was in a garden, surrounded by desert flowers and other plants. A man was holding on to him and he couldn't get away. He needed to escape….but he was trapped…panic overtook him. Then he heard Malik's voice, and all of a sudden he was safe with him, and the other man had disappeared.

And then he was awake, still in the Egyptian's arms.

()()()(end dream sequence)()()()

In fact, end chapter. That's a full five pages of writing, not including the author's notes. Well, I'm getting better.

Tell me what you think! It gives me inspiration and helps me concentrate.

Oh yeah, and I'm going to camp to learn Japanese for 2 weeks, and will write more once I return. So no updates for 2 weeks….I hope to have quicker updates now than in the past once I'm back home, though.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: See last three chapters please.

Review Responses

Molly (): No I can't. I can't save it then, and the format is messed up when I email it to me from your house. All I can do is come up with ideas. Which I believe we did. And I can't write a whole chapter in a day, especially since I'm trying to make them longer. I can't sit still that long.

Ryou VeRua: Here's your update! Thanks for the compliments--that kind of thing is what keeps me posting.

Daughter of Horus: Eh, well, I'm back now…wish I could have stayed longer though, it was sooo awesome…I went to one of the Concordia language camps. People come from all over America, I don't know about other countries. Anyways, they're located in northern Minnesota, but as I said, there were people from California to Maryland, all over the country, just in our cabin. Ah, it was so fun! Anyways…ehehe…must stop rambling about camp… Don't worry, I won't forget to update.

Jesse: Thanks for the review! It's great to hear from new people. Arigato!

I'm SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT! I really have no good excuse, but I will make some anyways. For example, high school was harder than I thought it would be and I'm still adjusting, I have writer's block (AGAIN!), and I still can't concentrate. Which are all bad excuses. But still…they're all I have. Actually, school is a fairly good excuse; my homework load has increased by about 2 and a half hours this year, at least. It's getting rather stressful, and I have very little free time.

Disclaimer and Warning: Please refer to last three chapters; I'm out of creative ideas….

Oh, one other thing: I know Japanese schools don't have their long break in summer, but I'm not sure when it is, so anyways, that's what I mean by summer break.

Another thing: I know it's hard to review when you don't have much to say, but it isn't exactly encouraging when I almost never get any reviews. I mean, I haven't posted in maybe a month now, and I only got three reviews. I know more people read it….the new hit counter thingy that tells me how many times the chapter was opened said 76 hits. I know some of those may be repeats, but I still doubt only four people read it. It would be really nice if people would tell me they read it and maybe what they think. Just a few seconds worth of typing, you know? You don't even have to log in to review…I'm not really trying to complain, but it's just not encouraging when so many people say nothing to me. It makes me feel like the story wasn't worth their saying anything. Thanks! And double thank you's to those who found reviewing worthwhile; you people are what keep me posting.

Chapter 4

Bakura sat on the edge of his hikari's bed, watching the boy sleep peacefully. Really, he wasn't watching, but thinking about the activities of the previous day….something about it really bothered him. 'Like the gods are working to repeat what happened then….' He thought. He turned his head to stare out the window. 'And the Pharaoh is surprised that I don't like them much….they're always hurting the people I care about, is it really a surprise?'

While he sat there, lost in thought, Ryou stirred and woke up. "Hnnh…'Kura?" Startled, the yami looked over at the pale teen. "Yami…is something wrong? You look upset…"

Bakura sighed, before answering quietly, "Nothing's wrong, Hikari." No need to worry Ryou over his stupid mind that thought too much….though the look his hikari gave him said clearly that the teen wasn't convinced.

"Yami…" The pale hikari sighed. He wrapped his arms around the spirit in a brotherly hug. The spirit turned around, holding his hikari close. "Yami, it'll be all right. You shouldn't worry so much; you'll stress yourself out."

Bakura smiled at his other half's words. 'He's right,' the thief thought. 'I'm not locked up this time, the pharaoh doesn't remember being a heartless bastard, and even if he had, I'm still not about to lose my brother again, not if I can help it…' He stood and walked out of the room, saying, "Let's get breakfast, I'm starved."

Ryou walked down the street, staring blankly at the sidewalk. Summer break was almost over. Really, there was only a week or two left…by this point he'd done everything there was to do by himself. Yugi and the others usually forgot about him unless he was right there….which effectively eliminated doing things with anyone but Bakura. That hadn't worked long; the spirit would end up stealing something expensive every time he saw it.

Wandering through the city, his mind began to wander. 'I wonder what would happen if life was like those TV shows…one of those action ones, where there's always something interesting and new going on….or do those just not show the boring parts of life? Maybe life is really no different there, except the exciting stuff is more dangerous and dramatic…I wonder if love there is the same too, then.' He considered that idea for a while. 'I doubt it….too much danger and drama. There's not enough time for cuddling….love can't be as wonderful.' The idea that the real world was better than someone's imagination in some way struck him as something to celebrate.

Slowly wandering around, the pale hikari looked up at one point. Startled, he glanced around him in an attempt to figure out where he was. The streets were unfamiliar, but unthreatening. In fact, it seemed to be an ancient market. The streets were practically empty, though, unusual for any kind of shopping area. Perhaps it was hard to find, or just not well known.

Walking down the narrow street, Ryou glanced into the window of a shop, which was full of necklaces, bracelets, and other cute little trinkets. 'Looks…interesting,' the teen thought. He decided to go in and look around.

Entering the store, he sneezed at the amount of dust in the tiny shop. An old man glanced up, startled. He seemed to be surprised at the fact that someone had actually come in. "Hello, hello," the elder exclaimed, smiling. "What brings you here today, my friend?"

Ryou couldn't help but smile at the man's friendly attitude. "I'm not really sure, actually. I was just wandering around, and…well, here I am." The teen shrugged. "What is this item? It's certainly interesting." He was looking at a bracelet that looked as if it was made of solid gold, carved with symbols that looked vaguely familiar but at the same time, completely illegible. Perhaps his yami would know the meaning….

He was drawn out of his thoughts by the elder's response. "Ah…an interesting choice. This is a…ancient object made by an unknown culture. Unfortunately, I bought it from a trader who had forgotten where it was found, so I've no idea. I'm sorry--I can be of little help with this particular piece."

The pale teen smiled. "It's all right. No one can remember everything." Looking at the bracelet, something about it reminded him of Malik. "How much does it cost?"

The storekeeper held it up. "Hmm….fairly nice weight…looks like gold, but can't be positive on that one. Let's see….maybe 8360 yen?" (1)

Ryou stared at the bracelet in his hands. The price wasn't that high, considering it seemed to be made of solid gold….but it still wasn't cheap. Still…something about this piece of jewelry seemed to make him want to buy it. Or maybe something else….the teen wasn't sure what. But it wasn't like he couldn't afford it. "I'll take it." He said aloud. As he walked out of the store, the old man grinned as he faded into dust.

The hikari found himself wandering around aimlessly again, having no clue where he was. He was considering going back to the shop to ask for directions when he heard a yell.

"Hey Ryou!" Looking over his shoulder, the teen saw Malik running towards him. The scenery was nothing like what he remembered walking past….odd. "Where were you?" The older teen caught up to him, panting. "We've been looking everywhere. Even Bakura couldn't trace the ring."

Ryou looked at him, confused. "I was just going for a walk. I wonder why Bakura couldn't trace me…that's odd." There was nothing about that store that would block their link….though now that he thought about it, Bakura had been rather quiet then.

He was startled out of his thoughts as Malik pulled him against his chest. "I was worried…," the Egyptian whispered. The shorter teen snuggled against his boyfriend, a silent apology for upsetting him.

Suddenly, Ryou remembered the bracelet he had bought. "Oh!" He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the jewelry. Reaching for Malik's wrist, he fastened the golden band around it. His boyfriend glanced down at his gift, then smiled and wrapped his arm around the hikari's waist. They began the walk home together.

()()(A Few Weeks Later)()()

Ryou rolled over, groaning. He'd forgotten how early it felt when his alarm clock went off for school….Reaching over to turn off the alarm, the pale teen stretched slightly as he stood up. The hikari blinked a few times before heading downstairs for breakfast.

An hour or so later, he was walking out the door and towards school. Reaching Domino high maybe 15 minutes later, he waited around for someone else to show up. As usual, he was early. Apparently not _that_ early, though, since Malik arrived a few minutes later. The other teen was just starting here, as he'd moved to Japan over the summer, so maybe he wanted to make sure he wasn't late…but still. It was someone to talk to. "Malik!" The pale hikari called, running over to him. Malik turned around, looking apprehensive. However he relaxed as he recognized his boyfriend.

"Ry, thank the gods. Man, I don't know anyone here…." He looked thoughtful for a second, then added, "Well, except for you…but…yeah." He smiled at the other teen, but it was still obvious that he was nervous.

"Come on, you'll need to know your way around. We have some time before everyone else shows up…" Ryou grabbed his boyfriend's hand, pulling him towards the school building.

The older teen looked slightly panicked. "How early are we? Ryou! WAIT UP!"

(insert divider here)

Half an hour later, the pair had covered pretty much the entire school (though Malik was unsure of how much he'd remember…) and other students were actually beginning to arrive. Malik was becoming anxious again; he wasn't exactly sure how well this would go, since the only people he knew here were from Battle City….true, that was mainly his yami's fault, but he doubted that would make Yugi andthe othersblame him any less.

Glancing up at the slightly older teen, the hikari could tell exactly what he was thinking. He leaned against Malik's chest, whispering, "Don't worry so much." The Egyptian glanced down at him, startled. Ryou smiled, then continued, "Yugi will understand; he'll be all right. Jou will probably trust his judgment most of the time, and Honda will probably follow Jou's lead. I don't know Anzu as well, but if those friendship speeches are sincere, then I doubt she'll hold anything against you."

Malik stared at his boyfriend for a moment; it was as if the younger teen had read his mind. He then smiled, shaking his head slightly, and whispered, "Thanks." Hand in hand, the pair walked towards the entryway to try to find the others.

Walking into the classroom they shared, the two teens immediately noticed Yugi's hair in the back corner. Walking in that direction, Jou's voice drifted over the chatter that filled every classroom before school started.

"Aww man, I can't believe I didn't see that coming!" It was obvious that the blonde teen had just lost another duel…."Come on, Yug', gimme a break, all of us can't be experts…"

Covering a slight giggle, Ryou pulled Malik towards the small group. Standing a little bit behind everyone else, the Egyptian's anxiety began to return. 'What happens if they hate me….' He thought. 'That could make life…more difficult….I hope Ryou's right….' He was startled out of his thoughts by Anzu's voice.

"Ryou! We haven't really seen you much, have we?" As the others turned around to say hello, she seemed to notice Malik standing there. After staring at him for a moment, she whispered something into Yugi's ear. The short teen looked over at him.

"Oh, hey Malik! I take it you moved here?" The Egyptian stared at Yugi, surprised by his friendly reaction. Completely undiscouraged by his surprised look, the short hikari continued, "I haven't seen you since Battle City. When did you move here?"

Smiling slightly, Malik answered, "Just a month or two ago, during break. There wasn't really much left for me in Egypt; it's not like I know anyone there." It was nice to know that Ryou's prediction had been right about Yugi at least.

The shorter teen smiled up at him, replying, "Well, it's great to see you again." Just then, Yami walked over. "Hey Yami, Malik's back!"

The spirit smiled at his hikari. "I can see that much, Yugi." He turned to the Egyptian. "Nice to see you again. How are you?"

Before Malik could answer, Anzu shook off her shock. "Guys!" she practically shouted. "He practically tried to kill us in Battle City, and all you do is say hello?" Looking at her face, the blonde flinched slightly. This was more the reaction he'd been expecting….she looked like she hated him. He looked down slightly.

Suddenly he heard Ryou speak. "Anzu, that isn't fair. Marik was really the one in control that time. Malik's not a bad guy."

Angry, the girl replied, "So he can't even keep control of his other half, and we're supposed to trust him? That's stupid."

Now Yugi joined in. "Ryou's right. None of us can keep control of out yami's all the time. You don't complain about Yami and Bakura, so it isn't fair to ask Malik to do what the rest of us can't."

Looking around at everyone, Malik began to smile again. So they did trust him…the feeling was wonderful after wondering for the past few hours whether they'd hate him.

At this point, Jou added, "That makes sense. Bakura's just as crazy as Marik, no offense, Ryou. But if we'll trust Ryou, why not Malik too? Ya can't blame them for crazy Yamis."

Anzu was furious by this point. "Fine, don't listen to me then! I'm leaving." She yelled, causing half the class to look back at the stunned group.

A few minutes later Yami turned back to Malik. "Nice," he said. "I've been trying to get her to leave since I got my own body…ouch!" He shut up as Yugi hit him over the head.

"Yami! Just because she's obnoxious doesn't mean you have to CHASE her away!"

"Yes it does, otherwise she'll never leave us alone." Seeing his hikari's pout, the spirit frowned. "Why does it matter? It's not like it ever made a difference…" The rest of the group laughed.

(School day passes; nothing of significance happens)

After the school day ended, Ryou was walking home with Yugi. The shorter hikari was rambling on about something when he suddenly asked, "Are you doing anything right now?"

Surprised, the pale teen replied, "No, nothing in particular."

Yugi smiled before exclaiming, "Great! Do you want to come over to my house? It would be fun to spend some time together, I really haven't seen you all summer."

Ryou looked at the shorter teen, obviously startled. A smile lit up his face as he replied, "That sounds great. I'd love to."

(end of chapter)

About $75 with current exchange rates.

Umm….yeah. It's a page longer than the last one, so no complaining about length! By the way, I repeat, yes I do know my excuses for not updating faster are overused and really bad excuses, but I swear to whatever you want me to swear to that they're all completely legitimate and sincere. I'm mostly adjusted to new schedule now though…I can type mainly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays (if my teachers are nice and don't pile us down with homework) so if I actually concentrate I think I can update fairly regularly. That's my goal, at least. I swear I'll try!

Sorry about the little divider thingies, but it's the only way that actually works. All other stuff doesn't show up...

Please read and review (though I know everyone's seen the comment a million times)

Ja ne,

Marina


	5. Chapter 5

Hi again, everybody! Much joy--I actually got reviews right away after posting! Very exciting…though actually, I have no idea when I usually get a first review for a chapter….oh well. Maybe I'm just happy. Whatever.

Disclaimer: same as before, no real changes….

To all reviewers: Thank you so much for reviewing! It's so…happy to come online and see that I have a review….

To all people who wish to review anonymously: It is now against the rules to answer reviews in the chapter…sorry! So if you want a response, leave an email address (or log in if you have an account); I do read all reviews, though! Even if I can't answer them anymore…

I do apologize for the late update! Our computer completely busted—we had to replace the hard drive—so I've been trying to get all my files back to normal. Not an easy task….especially since the rest of my family is trying to do the same (we only have one computer, so between my brother's homework and mine, plus stuff our parents have to do, there's not that much time that the computer's free; I get about half of that, because my brother likes computer games and claims the other half of the time. In fact, he probably gets more time, due to my high homework levels. Oh well…) Plus I've had massive writer's block. Which is unhelpful. AND EXAMS ARE COMING! AHHH! Okay, random outburst is over.

The few translations go: Japanese (English translation).

Chapter 5

Even though they were walking slowly, Yugi and Ryou soon reached the Kame Game Shop. They entered, seeing Yugi's grandfather behind the shop's counter. Looking up at the pair, the old man smiled, saying, "Oh, hello, Ryou. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Smiling, the teen replied, "Yes, I suppose so. How have you been?" Of course, this was formal polite stuff, but whatever…the man must have been in his fifties at least, after all. It was just…normal to be polite to a person that much older than you. At least, for Ryou it was.

Soon after, the two friends went upstairs to Yugi's room. Catching up on what had happened over break, they simply sat and talked for an hour or so before Yugi asked, "Hey Ryou?"

Looking over at his friend, the pale hikari replied, "Yes?"

Looking slightly uncomfortable, the shorter boy said, "I never really got a chance to get to know Malik after Battle City, and it looks like you're good friends. What's he like?"

Ryou blushed, wondering what Yugi would think if he knew just how close he was to Malik. "Well…he's nice….and….thoughtful. Battle City was mostly his yami's fault, I think. He's not the kind of person who'd want to take over the world, or really to hurt anyone, unless they were threatening someone he cared about." Smiling slightly, the pale teen continued, "He'd really like to make friends here….but I think he's afraid people will hold what happened in Battle City against him. Anzu really didn't help with that…"

Yugi smiled slightly. "He sounds like a nice guy." Now almost smirking (though no hikari, it seemed, could smirk effectively…), the short teen asked, "So why are you blushing, then?"

Looking up suddenly, Ryou turned bright red as he exclaimed, "Wha--I--" Biting his lower lip, he looked down again. "I…" He sighed.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. Glancing over at his friend, Ryou saw his friend's gentle smile. "You can tell me. Don't worry so much." Looking down, the pale teen muttered under his breath, quietly enough that Yugi couldn't hear a word. Looking confused, the younger teen asked, "What was that again?"

Ryou, still barely audible, whispered, "We're dating." He had no idea how his friend would react to that news; quite frankly, he hadn't even told the others that he was gay, much less dating. Despite what he'd told Malik before school, he had no idea how his friends would react to finding out….

However, Yugi's reaction surprised him. "Really? That's great!" the shorter teen exclaimed. "I mean…I'm happy for you." He smiled. "I hope it works out well!"

A small smile appearing on his face as he stared at his friend, Ryou sank into a slight state of shock. Yugi didn't even seem especially surprised by all this…though perhaps that was a good thing. "Thank you, Yugi," he said, smiling happily. Then he glanced outside. Startled, the teen exclaimed, "Oh my! It's getting dark already. I'd better head home." As he walked away from the Kame Game Shop, he whispered, "Thanks for understanding, Yugi."

()()(The Next Day)()()

Ryou arrived at school early, as usual. Looking around, he saw a few people standing around; most of them were talking to friends or flipping through notebooks. However, he didn't see any of his friends yet. Sighing, the teen walked over to a nearby bench and sat down, pulling out a book.

Suddenly a group of boys came over to him, surrounding the bench. They looked only a little older than Ryou, but were obviously much stronger. Glancing up, the young teen asked, "Can I help you?"

The leader, who stood directly in front of the young teen, smirked. "All alone, are you?" he asked in a mocking tone. Ryou flinched slightly, startled by the older teen's words. Looking around, he saw only a wall of people closing in around him. He whimpered slightly as he was pulled upright, the first punch hitting his shoulder.

Suddenly the attacks stopped and Ryou felt someone pick him up from where he'd fallen; someone was holding him. Looking up slowly, he found himself staring into his boyfriend's lilac eyes. Malik smiled slightly, obviously relieved, as the younger teen relaxed against him.

"Shh, baby…it's OK, I'm here now, it's all right…." The Egyptian whispered, rocking slightly as Ryou curled into his chest. He could tell that the younger teen wasn't too badly hurt physically, but worried anyways. Well, that was kind of his job, wasn't it?

Neither of them noticed the group of people standing behind them.

Jou stared the pair, his mouth seeming like that of a fish out of water; gasping, but unable to make a sound. Yugi quietly covered it up and dragged his friends (minus Anzu, remember…) over to the other side of the schoolyard before letting the golden-haired teen speak. Said teen immediately exploded, having finally grasped what he'd seen. "Wha—Yug, they were…were…oh, geez." Hearing Yugi's giggle, Jou asked, "What's so funny? I mean, they aren't…ya know…together, are they? I mean, I didn't think Ryou swung that way…" Yugi simply smiled, which caused Jou's eyes to bug out in shock. "They ARE? Wha—since when?"

The shorter teen couldn't help but giggle as he answered, "I think most of the summer. Ryou only told me yesterday, though, so I'm not sure." Noticing that Honda hadn't said a word yet, he poked the teen.

Shaking his head, the spiky-haired boy exclaimed, "They're….what? Wait…Ryou's gay?"

Yugi just groaned and shook his head in defeat.

()()(Back to Ryou and Malik)()()

Huddled close against his boyfriend's chest, Ryou calmed down quickly. 'This is comfortable,' he thought. However, it was getting late enough for other people to start arriving, so he slowly pulled away, smiling at the Egyptian to let him know he was all right. Standing up, the pair walked into the school and towards their first class.

As they walked in, Ryou noticed his friends watching them. Yugi seemed to be trying not to laugh, while Jou and Honda were trying to look like they weren't staring. Overall, it was rather unnerving. However, the bell was ringing, so he walked over to his seat and sat down.

This was one of the most boring classes of the entire day. Not only was it hard to concentrate in math, but the teacher tended to drone on and on, not noticing when the students began to fall asleep. It also didn't help that this was first period, so no one was really fully awake anyways….suddenly a note landed on his desk, causing the pale teen to wake up fully. Looking around, he saw the teacher hadn't noticed, so he opened it.

_Hey buddy_

_So, what's it like to hug another guy?_

_Jou_

The young teen gasped, blushing brightly as he stared at the piece of paper. He glanced over at his friend, who was staring a little too intently at the chalkboard, before tearing a piece pf paper out of his notebook and beginning to write.

_Jou_

_I'm not sure I understand what you mean…could you _

_be more specific, if it's not a problem?_

'Better to find out what's going on before freaking out completely,' Ryou thought as he passed the note back to the blonde teen. Watching the blonde out of the corner of his eye, he saw some kind of mix between embarrassment, apprehension, and general uncomfortableness cross his face. Confused even more, he looked over at Yugi, who sat a few seats behind him. The short teen was still holding back giggles, but he began to write as well. Soon a fairly large sheet of paper (larger than Jou's, at least) landed on his desk.

_If I'm not mistaken, Jou's probably asking about something we happened to see earlier…if you get what I mean. Maybe hugging in the middle of the school isn't such a great way to hide a relationship! . No harm meant—but after that I kind of had to explain a little…you know those two, they can be as dense as trees sometimes. _

_Yugi_

Ryou's eyes widened in astonishment and embarrassment as he read. 'They—they saw…oh, kami-sama…' He groaned softly, resting his head in his hands.

By the end of the class, Yugi was giggling uncontrollably, Ryou was blushing hard, and Malik was extremely confused. Jou and Honda looked slightly less dazed than before, but both were still staring at Ryou and Malik, which was still rather unnerving.

The Egyptian ended up walking close to Ryou, trying to find a chance to ask what was going on. Unfortunately, they were heading for different classes, so Malik was forced to stop questioning his boyfriend.

()()(later)()()

When lunchtime finally arrived, Malik walked into the cafeteria, searching the large, crowded room for someone he knew. He saw Yugi's noticeable hair halfway across the room and began to push his way towards him; the others would probably be nearby. As he walked up to them, Ryou turned around and smiled at him, scooting over to make some space.

Sitting down, he felt his boyfriend lean into him. Glancing down at him, confused, he saw the other boy relaxing against him, still talking to his friends. 'Weren't we not saying anything just yet?' he thought. 'He's gonna give it away…'

Suddenly, Ryou looked up at him, still smiling. He giggled slightly at Malik's baffled expression, then leaned up and whispered in his ear, "Is something up? You seem confused."

The Egyptian couldn't help but smile at his boyfriend, and whispered back, "You know, your friends are going to assume something with you acting like this." He was surprised to hear the pale hikari laugh.

"I forgot, no one told you, did they?" Malik looked even more confused than before. Smiling somewhat sheepishly, Ryou continued, "They kind of…saw us this morning…so yeah. They figured it out."

Malik blinked. "Oh. Well. In that case…" He smiled as he wrapped an arm around the hikari, who simply relaxed against his chest. "No wonder Jou and Honda kept staring at us…"

Ryou just laughed softly. "They're still kind of in shock."

()()(the next day)()()

School was over for the day and everyone had gathered at Yugi's home. Well, almost everyone—Tea was at work and Bakura avoided anything to do with Yami like the plague. But other than that, everyone.

As usual, Jou and Honda were busy plundering the fridge and Yami and Seto, who had been dragged along by Mokuba (and the promise of another chance to beat his arch-rival), were dueling. Malik and Ryou were sitting on the sofa, talking to Yugi, who was sitting in a chair nearby.

Suddenly, in the middle of a conversation about schoolwork, Yugi's eyes lit up. "You know what we should do?" he asked.

Ryou and Malik looked at each other. They looked back at Yugi. "That was random…but no, what?"

"We should have a party!" the short teen chirped. (A/N: Can't you just imagine Yugi chirping? Kawaii! Ok, sorry, randomness…) "We can have everyone come over and play games and stuff. It'll be fun!"

Ryou smiled, saying brightly, "That's a wonderful idea! But it should be on a weekend, not when we have school the next day."

The short hikari was bouncing in his chair now, excited. "This weekend! To celebrate surviving the start of school!"

Just then Jou walked over. "Who says we're gonna survive?" he asked, smiling.

"Good point." Malik joined in the conversation, continuing, "It's a good reason to party, though." Ryou elbowed him gently, whispering that it was only the first week. The Egyptian pouted slightly before replying, "So? It's still a good reason!" Ryou just smiled gently and rolled his eyes.

"Well, the weekend it is then. Whose house?" he asked. "Not mine—I can't keep up with the rate Bakura destroys appliances. We're currently without a microwave or vacuum." This drew some laughter from the others.

Suddenly Mokuba drew his attention away from the duel long enough to say, "How about our house?" Seto groaned. "Please, nii-sama?" the raven-haired boy asked, turning on the dreaded puppy-dog eyes.

Without looking up (apparently he had learned how to handle Mokuba's methods of persuasion), the CEO replied, "No." Mokuba pouted. "Still no." The boy leaned over and whispered something to his older brother (A/N: please insert random blackmail of your own choosing here). Seto immediately looked up and glared at his otouto (younger brother). "Fine," he agreed with a sigh, looking back down at his cards. "But if anything gets wrecked it won't happen again." The boy jumped up, grinning.

"Well, that's settled then. Kaiba's place at…umm…" Jou said.

"How about 4 on Saturday?" Ryou asked.

"At 4 on Saturday!" Jou finished triumphantly. Seto shook his head, muttering something about not usually letting dogs in the house.

()()(end chapter)()()

All right, people. Sorry again for the long wait and shorter chapter! I will try to post the party chapter ASAP. Yes, we will be skipping to that. I can't write more school, I used up all my ideas for that for now. Fact, this story in general may be slowing down, because I don't have much planned out after the next chapter or two…but anyways. Please read and, as always, reviews are much appreciated!

Arigato gozaimasu! (Many thanks!)


	6. Chapter 6

Wow! This is amazing. I posted the last chapter at maybe 10:30 Friday night, and by 8 PM on Saturday I already have 3 reviews! I feel so loved. Arigato gozaimasu, everyone! And, total, there were 39 hits! Hey, even if people didn't leave a review (though I love reviews and would really like it if everyone told me what they thought…), if they're reading the 5th chapter still then I'm doing good. You people make me so happy! I will update as quickly as I can—meaning as soon as I have enough to be worth updating. Oh, and I am learning that it's really hard to work on a story after reading fanfics….ah well. I'll just have to learn to write FIRST.

Disclaimer: See previous chapters please…I don't want to waste creativity on it. I don't have enough stored up to use on this and write the chapter…

Warnings: heh…well, still shounen ai…um….possible drinking, limes, language, etc.; I haven't decided everything yet.

Oh, I also realize that Malik and Ryou seem to have a pretty innocent relationship….hmm. Wondering if I should do something about that or let it be for now….in any case, this chapter starts at around 4 on Saturday—sound familiar, anyone?

Translations will go: Japanese (English)

Oh, and many thanks to Chi-chan, Dani, and everyone else who helped me with ideas for truth or dare! Much of this chapter would have been far worse off without their help.

Chapter 6

"Malik, come on! We're going to be late!" Ryou called, walking into his boyfriend's apartment. It was already only a few minutes to four, and although the roads weren't especially crowded at this time, it would still take a while to get across town.

The Egyptian poked his head out of the kitchen. "I'm coming, I'm coming….just finding something." Noticing Ryou's suspicious look, he added, "I'm just looking for some soda!" He quickly stuffed some beer into a bag, along with several bottles of soda. "Coming!" He walked out, Ryou next to him.

"Finally!" the hikari smiled, elbowing his boyfriend gently. "We're really going to be late now, you know…it's quite a long walk to Seto's."

Malik smirked. "Who said we're walking?" Ryou glanced up at him, confused. However, the confusion disappeared as the tan teen led him into a parking garage and a shiny red motorcycle.

This was bad.

Motorcycles terrified him. In fact, so did cars, to some degree, ever since his mother and sister had died in one. But motorcycles were worse. There were no walls. Yes, motorcycles were definitely worse. He bit his lip, looking nervous. "Malik?"

The Egyptian turned around. "Yeah?"

"Are you trying to get us killed?"

"What?" Malik asked incredulously. "It's a motorcycle, not some kind of guillotine!" Ryou still looked nervous. The tan teen walked over to him, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend. "It'll be all right. Trust me, all right? I've been driving this thing for over a year without a problem." He felt the hikari lean against him, nodding slightly. "Good! Hang on tight!"

As soon as the motorcycle started, Ryou yelped and wrapped his arms tightly around Malik's waist. Not that the Egyptian minded…he pulled out onto the road, careful to stay at least NEAR the speed limit. Even so, it only took a few minutes to arrive.

They walked in the door, hand in hand, to no one's surprise. Looking around, Ryou saw Yugi and Yami arguing over some remote game rule, Jou and Honda pigging out, and Mokuba trying to convince Seto to turn off his laptop for once. Smiling, he whispered to his boyfriend, "It seems that Mokuba managed to convince his nii-sama (big brother) to come anyways."

Surprised, the Egyptian glanced over at the boy. He grinned. "Ha! He really can convince Kaiba to do pretty much anything…"

Just then, Yugi noticed their arrival. "Hey Ryou, Malik!" he called, running over to them. He was already incredibly hyper.

Yami followed just behind him and whispered, "He's had sugar…"

Malik blinked. "That explains a lot." He blinked again. "Wait, who gave him that? Are they crazy?"

The others nodded silently.

()()(later) ()()

It was dark out by now, and Mokuba had been sent to bed. Seto had eventually turned off his laptop and started talking to people (A/N: amazing, no?), and so the party continued. However, since Jou was there and Mokuba was not, things quickly took a turn for the dirty side. Almost as soon as Mokuba was out of the room, Jou asked (A/N: not n enthusiastic enough word, but you get my drift) "Hey! Who wants ta play Truth or Dare?"

Seto snorted. "Mutt, middle school girls play that at sleepovers." The typical argument ensued, as the others completely ignored them and thought it over. Yugi was one of the first to agree, which of course caused Yami to do so as well. Well, they were yami and hikari—it made sense, in a way. Malik, however, had no idea what the game was, or what the others were talking about.

"It's not too hard to understand." Ryou explained. "One person starts. They ask another person if they want a truth—a question you have to answer honestly—or a dare—something you have to do. Then they give the person whichever one they wanted. And then the person who had to choose gets to ask."

Malik frowned. "So if Bakura, say, told me to rob a bank, I'd have to?"

"Well…..we may make an exception for something like that." The hikari answered, smiling slightly.

Just then, Yami asked, "Where is Bakura, anyways? I thought he'd show up, since there is alcohol and stuff."

Ryou frowned. "He said he didn't want to. No offense meant, but I think he's still avoiding you." Seeing the spirit's face fall, he added, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

The pharaoh looked up again. He smiled slightly, though his eyes were sad. "No, it's nothing." Staring up at him, Yugi could tell there was indeed something. (A/N: as all readers should be able to tell as well, at this point…and sorry about all the author notes!)

In any case, Jou ran out of not-so-snappy comebacks and decided to begin. "Hey, ummm….Honda! Truth or dare?"

Honda looked skeptical "I don't trust your dares, truth."

Jou frowned. "Damn." He looked thoughtful. "Umm…..let's see….damn, I can't think of good truths!" He gave up and asked the most predictable question possible: "What's your most embarrassing moment?"

If one didn't know better, one might have seen a slight blush spread across the teen's cheeks. "You should know!" Honda said. Seeing Jou's uncomprehending look, he continued, "You remember that time you walked in when I was watching that movie? The porn video?"

"OHHH! Yeah!" Jou burst out laughing. "The look on your face was hilarious…"

Honda, still looking slightly uncomfortable, cut in, saying, "All right, my turn. Umm….Ryou!" The hikari looked up. "Truth or dare?"

Ryou thought for a moment before answering "Truth."

"Umm…..did you and Malik do anything over break?"

Ryou's eyes widened slightly as he blushed. "We…hung out…went for walks and stuff…"

Honda rolled his eyes. "Nooo….anything _interesting_?"

Ryou's blush deepened. "…we kissed….but that's all." Honda looked almost disappointed. "Ummm…Seto?"

"Dare."

"I thought he said he didn't want to play, "Malik whispered.

Ryou answered, "He probably wants to do something to Jou." He thought for a minute before saying, "I'm terrible at these. Does anyone have a good idea?" Everyone sat silently. Suddenly Yami's face lit up, and he crawled over to whisper something in the pale teen's ear. Ryou's eyes widened, and he giggled slightly. "That would work. Jou, mix up some kind of drink, but don't use anything that people aren't supposed to drink." Jou looked excited; Seto appeared worried. "Seto, you have to drink whatever Jou comes up with." Seto glared at Yami fiercely while Jou practically ran into the kitchen, an evil grin spreading across his face.

A few minutes later (and after a number of worrying noises), Jou walked back out, carrying….a blender. "Couldn't find any smaller cups," he said, grinning cheerfully. "Here ya go!"

Seto took the blender hesitantly. He looked at the liquid suspiciously, then took a large gulp before almost dropping the container. "What the HELL is in that, mutt?"

Jou looked thoughtful before answering, "Oh, some milk, orange juice, lemons-"

"Whole LEMONS?" (A/N: I was thinking the fruit when I wrote that, but looking back…)

"Yep! And some beer, some whiskey…let's see…some of that weird purple stuff—don't worry, the label didn't say toxi-"

Yugi cut in, sounding slightly worried. "What DID it say, then?"

"Something in English. Couldn't read much of it. But it looked like some kinda juice…"

Seto shook his head, murmuring, "No wonder it tasted terrible, with all that stuff…" He spoke louder, so the others could hear him over Jou's continued listing. "My turn now. Jou?"

Honda frowned. "Wait, I thought you weren't allowed to pick the person who picked you."

"But Ryou's the one who actually gave him the dare." Yugi reminded him. "Jou just got to make the drink."

Jou glared at Seto before saying, "All right, then, I can handle whatever ya can come up with, moneybags! I pick dare." He grinned proudly.

Malik whispered, "I think he may be in slightly over his head…" Ryou nodded silently in agreement.

Seto smirked. "That's what I'd hoped you'd say, mutt." Jou growled. "Look, you even sound like a dog. In fact…" His smirk grew. "You act so much like a dog, why don't you go drink from the toilet?"

Jou's jaw dropped. He promptly glared at the CEO. "WHAT? Oh, come on, that's gotta be unhealthy or sumthin…."

Ryou spoke up. "He's right, he could get sick from that." Yugi hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"So it's settled! I don't have ta on account of possibly getting' sick!" Jou chirped. (Yes, chirped.)

Seto smirked. "Not yet. Not everyone's agreed."

Jou glanced at Honda, Yami, and Malik. Yami's eyes were blank; he seemed to be mentally talking to his hikari. That is, he seemed to be, until said hikari poked him, and he snapped back into the real world. "I agree with Yugi," he stated, before zoning out again. Ryou glanced over at the short teen, who shrugged, indicating that Yami wasn't talking to him.

Honda shrugged as the group looked towards him. "I'm with Jou on this one; that's just gross, Kaiba." The CEO proceeded to glared at the brown-haired teen fiercely, but somehow, he was ignored. "Hey, you still have to ask Malik, right?" Honda reminded them.

Immediately everyone's gazes turned to the Egyptian, who looked almost startled. "Wait…so if I say so, Jou doesn't have to do it?" The others nodded and he shrugged. "Fine, whatever." Jou jumped up, punching the air.

"Yeah!"

Seto didn't look quite so happy. "Fine then, I get to choose another. Umm…" His eyes lit up, and he smirked menacingly. "I dare you…to make out with Honda for at least a minute."

Jou stared blankly at the CEO before jumping up, yelling, "WHAT?"

This only earned him another smirk. "I'm not done yet." He took a moment to enjoy the angry glare of the blonde before announcing, "You both have to be shirtless."

Jou seemed furious by this point. He was also blushing profusely.

Strangely, Honda didn't seem nearly as upset.

In any case, Jou had begun to rant furiously at Seto once again; in a typical display if indifference, the brunet ignored him completely. However, this time people weren't so willing to let Jou off the hook. As Yugi so nicely put it, "Sorry, Jou, but you already got one break…besides, it's not like there are any big risks in just kissing someone."

Which, of course, caused Jou to retreat into a corner to mutter about something along the lines of "Traitor…plenty of harm…just not…evil, all of you…" Honda went over to him, dragged him back into the center of the room, and reminded him that he didn't have much of a choice about it, and that delaying would be rather pointless. The brown-haired teen seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.

Honda pulled off his own shirt, reminding the blonde that the dare did indeed require him to do the same. He sat down after doing so, biting his lower lip nervously. Yeah, he was gay…but this was his best friend, not a boyfriend. The whole idea of making out with him was just weird. Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of the brown-haired teen's lips against his own. 'Well, at least I can enjoy myself…' he thought, before his mind completely blanked.

He felt Honda's tongue press against his lips, and opened his mouth slightly. This was enough for his friend, who immediately took the chance to explore. Jou reveled in the feeling for a moment before beginning to fight back, slowly gaining, then losing, then regaining dominance. This continued until he heard Yugi announce that the minute was up. Yes, kissing was fun, but this was still Honda….there were limits.

He stood and walked back over to the sofa, smoothing his slightly rumpled clothing. Glaring at Seto, the teen sat on the ground, leaning against the armrest of said furniture. "So now I get ta pick someone." He thought for a moment. He looked around. He thought for another moment.

"Oh, for god's sake, mutt, hurry up!"

"Fine, fine! Yami." The blonde began glaring again, causing Seto to ignore him and everyone else to sweatdrop in defeat.

The ex-spirit glanced at Jou suspiciously, coming out of his little trance. "Truth."

"All right…what's been buggn' ya all day, then?"

The spirit looked up quickly, apparently surprised, before whispering, "It's nothing."

()()(Oooh, must decide whether I should leave a cliffie or not)()()

All right, I'm leaving a cliffie.

Yes, I know, I'm being evil. But it has been forever since I updated (Gomen nasai! Many apologies!) and…well, maybe people will review, if only to rant at me. -.-

Any guesses as to Yami's problem? Though people who read the prequel may be able to guess. At least, a little bit. There is foreshadowing….I think…but then, I'm also the one who knows what's going to happen, so maybe it's only noticeable in retrospect.

Ahhh! Must find more time to write. And develop a longer concentration span. (So many pointless little things to do on computers! I get distracted so easily…) I will do my best to update fairly soon….though at the moment, I have 3 or 4 ideas as to what the next chapter might be, and really have no idea what I'm going to type. I'll figure it out. Eventually.

I am also editing Thief's Brother pretty extensively, so whenever I have writer's block, don't worry—I'm not just staring at a blank screen for once! I'm actually going to be working on something still….this is completely irrelevant, but oh well.

Please read and review! Feed the authoress!


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you, everyone who reviewed, for your support! I actually now feel the urge to come up with more ideas for the story. I know that sounds weird, but I do it a lot—figure out the first half of the story and the ending, but forget about the second half or so until I get to it. I will try to update as soon as possible, though.

I also apologize for the slow updates. School has kept me so busy…I really should have taken a study hall, but there you go—I'm apparently smart enough to be in honors classes, but not smart enough to manage my own schedule without disaster. There really should be some kind of rule against that…in any case, I haven't had a whole lot of free time. Well, I suppose I should mention that I managed to practically sleep through much of spring break. .

Oh, and one person so far has guessed my little question correctly. Congratulations to Browneyedalbino! virtual cookie

Disclaimer: Same as always pokes stick cautiously at lawyers

Warning: If you can read this far before figuring out the yaoi part of the story, then I don't think saying it again will help. Umm…general warning for language (Bakura has a potty mouth….) and other random stuff like that. I don't even remember what I rated this, but whatever it was, it's probably rated that for a reason. . Well, that covers pretty much all I can think of at the moment….

Oh, and thoughts will now be in italics instead of single-quote-thingies, because it'll be easier for me when I go over this a year from now and make some sad attempt at editing.

()()(Chapter 7)()()

Yami sighed. He had already passed that particular bench at least five times. However, he didn't feel like heading back to the party yet, so he continued to walk.

_Perhaps I should head down to the lake…_

He followed the moonlit path a little farther before wandering off across the grass. The spirit climbed a small hill, over which the reflection of the full moon was fully visible on the lake. He sat on the grass, feeling dew seep through his pants, but not caring much. Suddenly, a flash of white in the trees caught his attention. When he looked more closely, though, nothing was there.

_Just my imagination again…_

This had happened before—he would see flashes of Bakura's hair or face across a crowd of people, or disappearing into an alley, but they would always be just that—flashes. As soon as he would arrive at the place where he'd seen the Thief King, he would be gone.

_And now I'm stuck thinking about him again. Just like always. _

It was true. Bakura was never far from the ex-pharaoh's mind. In fact, it sometimes seemed like he never left it.

_But this is pointless. I know how he feels about me, though I really…_

"Don't know why…"

Yami realized he was now thinking out loud. Well, it didn't matter much—there was no one around to listen anyways.

"I guess maybe it would help to know why he hates me so much. I know he blames me for what happened to his family and all…but weren't they killed before I became pharaoh? And Mahaado told me that my father knew nothing about it either…1 And while he may be hard to understand and kind of unpredictable, I don't think Bakura's crazy. So…there must be some other reason…"

He stood up, staring towards the stars. "But I can't remember what the hell it could be! I can't even remember my Ra-damned name, much less whatever it was I did wrong…" The spirit sank down once again as tears threatened to spill over. "Maybe if I knew what was wrong, I could fix it…but he hasn't told me, and I have no idea…"

_When did everything go so wrong? I thought all I'd need to do was protect my hikari and his friends, save the world a few times, and get all the items, and everything would be all right…_ He sighed, chuckling slightly. _It's not so simple in real life, is it…_

()()(line break)()()

A white-haired man sat in a tree a short ways away from where the ex-pharaoh sat. he looked almost contemplative as he stared over at the other teen in the dim light; his face revealed little emotion, though no one was there to see him.

_So you still don't remember, Pharaoh…well, too bad. There's no way to fix things now anyways. It's about 5000 years too late for that._

However, his expression softened slightly as he watched a single tear run down his enemy's face.

He watched as Yami stood once again, walking across the field once again, then over a hill and out of sight.

()()(Yami's POV)()()

_You know, I actually feel a little better after ranting a bit. Maybe Jou's got a point with that one. _

He felt a slight stirring in his mind as Yugi poked gently at their mental link. The spirit sighed gently. Of course Yugi knew what was going on; sometimes he felt like his hikari knew him better than he knew himself. He allowed their link to open fully, hoping that the teen might see something that he missed.

/Or just that I'll give you something else to think about/

/That works./ Yugi giggled, bringing a small smile to the ex-pharaoh's face.

/You should really come back to Seto's, you know. You worried everyone, just running out like that./ The hikari guessed at Yami's next thought before the spirit could even think it, answering/I know you were upset, and I know why, but they don't./

/I know./ The spirit smiled slightly. Talking to Yugi always managed to cheer him up. /That wasn't really the goal….just had some thoughts to work out./

The hikari smiled sadly. /You're not the only one with an impossible crush, remember? We're in the same boat there./

/…well, at least Seto doesn't completely hate you/ However, the thought had a laughing tone to it, a sign that Yami's spirits were rising.

The spirit continued walking, heading through a forested area of the park. The path ahead curved suddenly, hiding the area ahead behind shadows of trees and dark outlines of lilac bushes, and the spirit slowed down for a moment, suddenly cautious for some unknown reason. He shook his head slightly before continuing, and, telling himself that nothing would happen, rounded the corner.

And promptly crashed into someone, fell over, and hit on the ground hard. He sat up, groaning as he felt a sharp pain near his tailbone. Looking up, though, he forgot the dulling ache and stared openly at the man kneeling before him. The other's shocked face was enough to convince the ex-pharaoh that this was a complete accident. He felt his own expression change to match his tone of surprise and confusion as he whispered, "Bakura?"

The thief flinched at the sound of his name and was suddenly off, running into the woods. "Bakura, wait!" Yami quickly stood and followed the spirit; the now-cleared path not only sped his progress but slowed the man he was pursuing, as said man was forced to make the path himself. With this aid, he managed to keep him within sight.

Suddenly, the flash of silver hair ahead disappeared with a yell. Yami stopped, startled, then slowly walked forward, making sure not to miss anything. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened; not far ahead, a tree root jutted out of the ground, and the bushes to the side were pulled apart, branches broken, as if someone had fallen there. As the ex-pharaoh edged closer to said bushes, the thief came into sight. It wasn't long before he met Bakura's harsh, angry glare.

"Get the hell away from me!" the thief yelled, trying to scoot as far away from his pursuer as possible. He winced as he pushed back with his left foot; Yami could see the ankle beginning to swell. However, Bakura ignored his pain as he continued to creep away from the other spirit. His movement was still halted, though, when his back hit a tree trunk. The thief threw his arm out as if warding off an enemy, yelling, "Leave me alone!"

Yami did stop, though he was clearly upset. He swallowed deeply before continuing to move slowly closer, saying, "Please, I just want to talk to you. That's all."

Bakura's expression changed from extreme anger to guarded watchfulness. Seeing that the other spirit wasn't making any sudden moves, he whispered, "What do you want from me?"

The ex-pharaoh's expression relaxed as he replied, "Only to understand." Confusion flitted momentarily over the other spirit's face, and he continued, "I want to know what happened between us, what I did to make you hate me so much."

The pale-haired yami snorted. "And here I thought that little trip into the memory world was supposed to RESTORE your memory."

Yami frowned. "It did—but only from the time period the world showed. I remember you, what you looked like, the reasons you gave then for fighting me, the actual fights….everything except what I want to know!" He was surprised to hear Bakura chuckle darkly.

"You want to know the real reasons, Pharaoh? You better be sure, because this'll hurt." His expression clouded as he continued. "How much do you recall? Do you remember what happened a year, two years before that big battle that you saw in the memory world? No? Well, then I suppose we should start there…

"Two brothers were living on the streets, in the same city as your palace. They'd been orphaned when the older one was only maybe six, and the younger was barely old enough to walk. They had no one to support them, no one to help them, and no training for any jobs. How were they supposed to live, except for stealing? No one really cared, most of the time, at least when they were still young. My guess is, people pitied them. But when they got older, things got worse.

"They were arrested for thievery. Of course, only one was guilty; why should both of them risk being caught when one person could take enough to provide for both? Especially when the older brother was so much better at it. But both profited from it, so both were brought to the palace. I guess I can't complain; at least the younger kid wasn't left on the streets to starve, or worse. You wouldn't remember, since you probably never left the palace without hordes of guards, but the slums aren't kind to kids on their own.

"But anyways, the two were caught and arrested by your guards, who brought them to the palace. There's your first reason, by the way. Then they were separated; the actual thief was dragged off, and the younger brother was left alone. For a while now, the story will follow the older one. He was led through apparently unused halls and corridors until he reached a room with a thick wooden door and a guard out front. The guard opened the door, and he was thrown inside; the door closed and was locked behind him.

"This room wasn't a jail cell, nor a room for a trial; it was pitch black inside, and the thief was admittedly scared. Who could blame him? He was young and inexperienced, especially since he'd never been caught before. Time passed—who could guess how long—but eventually, the door was opened again, and a man with a flickering torch walked in. Guess who? A hint, maybe; spiky, tricolored hair, tan skin, a golden crown…is it sinking in now? It was you, Pharaoh. Listen careful, because here comes your second reason.

"Everyone's always told you how _generous_ and _wonderful _you were as Pharaoh, am I right? Well, guess what, they lied. Whatever they may think, no benevolent man, god on earth or otherwise, would tie a captive to a wall and use him as a fuck toy for a couple months! Oh, don't look so shocked, I told you the whole story would hurt. The truth is, you were a sadistic bastard, and everyone else just overlooked it.

"So here's this guy, trapped in a tiny dark room for ages, with no news of the little brother he'd protected for years. Can you imagine how worried he'd be, can you blame him for despising the bastard who kept him trapped there? But all of a sudden, one day things got worse. You look surprised, Pharaoh. Thought there couldn't be worse? Thought this was it? Meh.

"Things started fairly normally. You showed up, talked for a little while, started playing, as you so nicely put it. But then you backed off. That was a surprise in and of itself—now why would you do that? Instead, you walked across the room to open a solid stone door. In the dim light from the torch, the thief had never seen it; the stone matched perfectly with the wall. And guess who he pulls out from the little room behind the door? None other than the little brother the thief's been so worried about. Can you imagine how he panicked? Just think what you would have done, if you were in his place. Maybe with Yugi as the brother. Ah, I see fear in your eyes, just from thinking of it; really, can you think how you'd feel if it was real? The thief had no idea how long his brother had been there, or how he'd been treated. And can you guess what you did now? You walked over to the boy, the younger one, and started playing your little game with him.

"Do you have any idea how horrible it is to watch something like that, knowing what comes next, and also know that you're completely unable to stop it? That you can't even protect the one person you have left in the world? That's your third and biggest reason, right there. If the thief had hated you before, he now despised you completely. But at this point, a small blessing shines through—not because of you, be assured, but a blessing all the same. A message came, calling the pharaoh away, to I don't know what. And, even better, he hadn't tied the younger brother up at all. And with the help of some pieces of metal, used as picks, and a kind guard, the pair managed to escape.

"A happy ending, you think? Sounds like it. But the problem is, it doesn't end here. They'd escaped from that hellhole, but they were still in the middle of the hallway; the brothers needed somewhere safe to hide. They managed to hide in a garden, for a little while. The younger boy's master—did I mention he was a slave?—found them there. He was nice, and they'd fallen in love. It was kind of cute, really, and the thief was fine with it, especially considering that this guy was really all that kept his brother safe. Eventually, the younger brother went home with his master; the older brother couldn't go, though, it would attract too much attention, so he was stuck. But the other two would probably be safest away from him. Or so everyone involved thought.

"On the way home, the pair was attacked. By your guards, I should mention. Guess whose orders they were following when they drew swords on two unarmed boys? Or when they finally departed, leaving a young slave unconscious and bleeding heavily, with his noble master barely touched? The younger brother died soon after, and the master couldn't deal with it, and sort of…gave up. Stopped eating, barely slept, and ended up dying a few days later. There's your fourth reason, if you're still keeping track. That's what, two innocents dead because of you?"

Now Bakura paused. He had been staring up at the stars for most of his tale, but now his angry gaze shifted to meet the other spirit's eyes directly. "And can you guess who these people were? No? A hint, maybe, will stir your memory. The master was fairly tall, with the normal Egyptian skin, but unusual blonde hair and lavender eyes. Sound familiar? He should. He just moved here maybe a month ago. And the younger brother, his lover? Small and lithe, pale as the moon, with long silvery hair and chocolate eyes. You know him too, you've known him for ages. And the older brother? He still hates you. Come on, Pharaoh, you must have figured it out by now."

Yami was staring at Bakura, shocked. _He's saying I—I did this to him? No wonder then…_His eyes fell to the ground. _No wonder he hates me so much…_Out loud he said, "I-I'm so sorry, Bakura, I had no idea—"

"Well now you do. So I'd appreciate it if you stayed the hell OUT of my life." The thief tried to get up, but fell again, hissing in pain as his ankle collapsed underneath him. He sent a hate-filled glare at the ex-pharaoh. "Well, you got what you wanted, you know what happened now, so leave me alone!"

But by now Yami had remembered Bakura's injury. "At least let me get you some help." He looked down. _It's amazing how actions from 5000 years ago can still make me feel guilty…_ "Bakura, I'm really sorry, I—"

The other spirit cut him off again. "It's a good 5000 years too late for sorry. And if I need help, I can get it without you!" He glared at Yami once again, completely missing the worried, hurt look in the other spirit's eyes. "Now, for the last time, leave me the hell alone!"

He finally managed to stand and limped off into the forest, moving slowly and using the trees for support. Yami moved to follow but stopped, respecting Bakura's wishes; his eyes still held an expression of shock and pain mixed with guilt and apology and worry for the thief. He watched the pale form disappear between the trees before turning away and walking towards home.

/I don't think I'll be coming back to Seto's after all, Hikari./

(Fin)

And we'll end there! A wonderful, uplifting chapter, ne?

sound of crickets chirping

All right, maybe not so. And I do apologize for the total recap of Thief's Brother, for all of you who bothered to read it. I hope it at least filled in any questions about Bakura's point of view in all that. Hey, at least it made the chapter longer! Bordering on 7 pages, including author's notes! Not much, I know, but improvement.

more crickets chirping

All right, all right! I also apologize for making everyone wait so long for this chapter, and for, despite the delay, not making it very long. I had trouble getting Bakura to stay near Yami long enough to fill him in….anyone who's had a character get out of hand and outright refuse to do what the author wants knows what I mean, I'm sure. All your unanswered questions about the party will be answered next chapter, by the way. I think. -.- And this whole thing between Bakura and Yami will be continued too. It may take a while to resolve…. . They're not cooperating, as I mentioned. Meaning, Bakura's fighting me every step of the way. I had maybe 4 drafts of that whole part between them…and that's just of the version that made it into the story. There were maybe three other choices that just didn't work. . So troublesome…

Anyways, please feed the author! She's feeling neglected. Ja ne, everyone!


	8. Chapter 8

Hey minna-san….

Sorry for the long wait! I have a REAL legitimate excuse this time—I was at camp in the middle of nowhere learning Japanese for a month. And we didn't get internet access, or even really computer access. So it made it difficult to write. Not to mention that we crammed a year of high school Japanese into four weeks, so I didn't have much free time. But I recommend it. It's a lot of fun.

In any case, same warnings/disclaimer as usual…and let's begin! Yay! I have ideas today!

Oh, and Hinata-chan, if you're reading this….arigato gozaimasu for your inspiration in the little mind-conversation part! Though I doubt you knew you were giving me ideas while Saori and I were living vicariously through you……

Chapter 8

Yami unlocked the door to his and Yugi's home. The house was empty, as Grandpa was out of town for a few months, visiting an old friend, and Yugi was….

_Is he really still at Seto's? I wonder how they've managed to spend all this time…I didn't realize there was so much to do at a party._

He wandered upstairs and sat at Yugi's desk, staring out the window at the moon. _The moon will start waning tomorrow. The cycle is ending. _He sighed, looking down at the desk. _Kind of like any chance I—_

/YAMI! The spirit was startled out of his slightly depressing musings by Yugi's voice.

/Yugi? What--\

/Help! The small teen sounded panicked, in addition to rather rushed.

Yami blinked. /I'll try, if you'll tell me what's going on.\

There was a pause. The spirit could feel his hikari's hesitation clearly before he finally spoke. /…Well….we were playing truth or dare and-

/Wait, still?\ the ex-pharaoh interrupted. /How is it possible to play one game for so long? Don't you run out of questions after a while?\

This drew a slight giggle from Yugi. /We stopped for a while, then Jou went back to it and nobody complained, so we started playing again.

/Only Jou…\ Yami said, sighing. /All right, so what does this have to do with needing help?\

Yugi hesitated again before answering. /Well…you see… His voice trailed off.

After a few moments, Yami gently said/I can't help if you won't tell what's wrong, hikari.\

The small teen smiled a little. /I know. It's just….all right. He took a deep breath. /JouaskedmeiftherewasanyoneIreallylikedandSeto'sintheroomandIdon'tknowwhattodoandHELP!

Yami blinked again. /Gomen nasai, Hikari, I didn't catch that.\

His hikari took another deep breath before repeating more slowly/Jou asked me if there was anyone I really liked, and Seto's in the room, and I have no idea what to do…

/And you want me to help you figure out what to say?\ Yugi nodded. /Well…I can try, but if you haven't noticed, my love life isn't going all that great at the moment either.\

Yugi nodded. /I heard yelling before, you'd left the link wide open, but I tried to ignore it. It sounded private. I figured I'd ask you when I got home.

/Well, anyways, it sounds like you have three choices.\ He felt Yugi's confusion seeping through the link they shared. /One: tell the truth. Two: lie. Three: refuse to answer. And knowing you, you won't lie, or if you do, someone will guess that you're lying, which defies the purpose. So that makes two choices.\

/But they'll guess that the person's in the room if I won't tell.

/Then you may as well just tell the truth.\

/I can't! What if he doesn't want to be around me at all anymore? What if he hates me?

Yami sighed once again. /I honestly can't see anyone hating you, hikari.\

/But…I just can't…

/What do you want me to do, tell him for you?\

/NOOOOO!

/Then what? Yugi, I can't decide for you. In the end, either you tell him, or you don't. You have to make that choice. I will say that I don't think he'll hate you or avoid you if you do tell him, whether he feels the same or not.\

/But… Yami could now feel his light's nervousness and worry through their link. /….you really don't think he'll hate me?

The spirit smiled. /I'm not sure how anyone could.\

/….All right.

/Good.\ Yami smiled gently, trying to send some strength through to his hikari, despite his own problems. /Now, won't everyone be wondering why you've been blanking out for so long?\

Yugi's eyes widened, startled. /I didn't even think of that! They're probably wondering what's going on….thanks, Yami! I'll talk when I get home. The link closed, their conversation ended.

Unfortunately, that also left Yami time to mull over his conversation with Bakura once again. There were no more distractions. The spirit wandered down the stairs once again, then sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. There was never anything good on at two whatever in the morning. But even the worst show on earth was better than just sitting and thinking…..

What felt like just a few moments later but was really over an hour, the spirit was shaken awake by an overeager hikari. "Yami! Wake up already! Come on…"

"Mrgggh…Yugi, stop it, I'm sleeping…." He gave up as the teen tried to pull him onto the floor. "All right, all right, what is it?"

"Guess what happened?"

"Hikari, it's what, four AM? It's way too early for guessing games." The teen pouted. "Fine. Umm….a flying pig carried Anzu away and dropped her on the moon."

"Nope!"

"Then what?"

"You were right! You said it would be ok and it was and--"

His voice was muffled as the spirit covered his mouth with a hand. "You want to just show me? No, I'm not moving my hand, just nod or shake your head." He was answered by an emphatic nod.

He was sitting on the floor in Seto's mansion. His and Yugi's friends were all sitting nearby, mostly on chairs or sofas, but a few others were on the floor as well.

"Yug'? Ya all right?" Jou asked. The spirit guessed that this was immediately after his conversation with Yugi.

"I'm fine." The whispered words were not his, but Yugi's.

"So, answer then!" Honda had a huge grin plastered on his face.

Yami felt fear—not his, but the nervousness his hikari had experienced—as he looked at the carpet. It was a pretty carpet, with all sorts of patterns woven in…he whispered, almost silently, "Seto."

There was a pause. Then Jou, looking confused, said, "I think I didn't hear ya, Yug. What was that?" Yami looked down again, feeling blood rush to his face. Yugi hadn't been happy here…

_I wonder what cheered him up so much then._

He got his answer a moment later. Seto's voice came from across the room. "Shut up, mutt. Every time you start yapping you sound stupider." There were footsteps, then a hand wrapped around Yugi/Yami's chin, pulling his face up. His eyes met bright cerulean. _He looks…odd, _Yami thought._ Like he's confused, or worried that he'll regret something. Have I ever seen Kaiba confused before?_

Slight pressure against his lips stopped his thoughts. Yugi's body stiffened momentarily, his eyes widening in shock, before relaxing into the kiss.

Yami, unable to change the memory, drifted into thought as Yugi's memory descended into a state of blissful shock.

_Did Kaiba just…kiss me? No, Yugi. Not me. I was just in Yugi's body for the memory. _

_This is confusing…_

_Does this make me the only one with such bad luck romantically, then?_

And then the memory ended, and he was back in the living room of the game shop with Yugi.

_I should congratulate him…_

The spirit smiled. "Congratulations, Yugi. I'm glad things worked out for you."

However, apparently he hadn't succeeded in keeping a harsh note from his voice. His hikari's expression changed slightly to include puzzlement. "Yami, what happened tonight? It upset you, lots. What was it?"

Yami turned away. "Later, hikari? It's just…later, all right?" He felt Yugi's arms wrap around him.

"All right," the hikari whispered, "Later works." He stood and walked towards the stairs that led to his bedroom. Suddenly he turned, saying, "Yami?"

"Hm?"

"…don't brood too much, all right? I'm sure things will work out."

The spirit smiled. "I'll try, little one." He heard the teen's footsteps on the stairs. To himself, he whispered, "I wish I could have so much faith as you…."

(Insert Here)

I am going to insert the Author's Note in the middle this time. In hopes people may actually read it, even if it is obnoxious. (Ah, well, maybe I'm just being optimistic and people will skip this anyways. But it's worth a try!)

In any case, the main point of this is to ask that people put a little more into a review than "that was great update quick". I know it's sometimes hard to come up with things to say, and gods know I've been awful about reviewing lately…but it's really disappointing to open a review and see that the person couldn't even bother to use proper grammar, or say something specific to the chapter. I'd almost rather not get the review in that case; I get all excited every time I get one, and that's a bit of a disappointing message, you know? I'd really appreciate it if someone could say who their favorite character is (in the story, not the TV show) or even a part they thought could be better or something helpful like that. Those comments will help me improve, which is one of my main goals here.

I know sometimes people are busy or can't for whatever reason. But I do have a life and it does take me a while to update, partly due to aid life and partly due to my tendency to write myself into corners and partly due to the fact that we only have 1 computer in our house, so my time is limited, sometimes nonexistent, depending on my brother and my homework levels. I do work on this almost every day in math (hehe…) and I do work as fast as I can. I just don't have a lot of free time anymore!

Thanks for your attention to the authoress, all you who bothered to read this far!

(End Insert)

Malik drove up to the darkened house, Ryou on the motorcycle behind him, hugging him tightly. He silently shook his head in defeat, having been unable to disperse the younger teen's fear. But it was pleasant, having his boyfriend clinging to him like that. "Ryou…" he yelled as he began to slow down, "We're here, sweetheart, you can open your eyes now."

The teen slowly opened his chocolate eyes. "Malik?" His boyfriend glanced over at him. "Remind me to never get on that…thing….again?" The Egyptian just rolled his eyes.

"I told you, it's not gonna kill you…"

The pale hikari pouted. "I know. I didn't call it a deathtrap this time, did I?" This drew a laugh from Malik. "I should go, see you later."

He was drawn into a close embrace, and snuggled gently into the tan boy's chest. "'Night, sweetheart." Ryou nodded. "Oh, I'm not sure if I'll be able to drop by tomorrow—Isis is visiting, remember?"

His boyfriend nodded. "I remember." He yawned, leaning into Malik's warm embrace. "Love you…"

The Egyptian smiled. "Love you too, sweetheart. Now go get some rest." Ryou obeyed, walking into his home before Malik got back on the motorcycle and rode off to his own apartment.

As Ryou walked in, he saw Bakura slouched on the sofa, a bloody video game filling the TV screen. _Wait…we don't own that game…_It took a moment for his tired brain to process that thought. _H's gotten better about stealing lately, though. I wonder what upset him this time. _He walked over to the sofa and sat down next to the spirit. "Yami?"

"Ngh."

"I thought you'd still be out, or in bed."

"Well, I'm not." The yami focused his attention on the game on the screen. That is, he did until his hikari took control of his hand, paused the game and smoothly turned off the screen. "Ryou! I was playing that…" He sank into a sulk.

The younger teen sighed, shaking his head. "Yami, what's wrong?"

Bakura slouched down even further. "…nothing." Ryou frowned. "Gods be damned, hikari, it's nothing! Just the stupid Pharaoh again."

Ryou looked up at him. "'Kura, what happened to make you so angry with him? It's been over 5 millennia now…that's a long time to hold a grudge."

"And I'd hold it another 5000 years if I needed to."

"What was it, though?"

"Nothing."

The young teen sighed again. "Nothing isn't much to base a millennia-long hatred on."

"I'm not saying more."

"I know." Bakura looked at his hikari, frowning as their eyes met.

"Then where's the problem, hikari?"

"I just…" The teen looked down, seeming slightly pensive. "I just don't quite know what could make you so angry, for so long, 'Kura."

"Nothing forgivable."

"Are you sure?" His yami snapped his head around, glaring at him. "Are you sure it's worth it anymore?"

"Yes. I just said, the thing-I'm-not-telling-you isn't forgivable, not by a long shot. Not ever."

Ryou just watched him for a moment. His face was thoughtful. When he spoke, it was in a quiet, calm tone. "….don't you think it's possible he's changed?" He giggled slightly as Bakura stared at him. "Don't look at me as though I've gone insane, yami. By all accounts, you have. Why not him?"

"Because he's a goddamned selfish, stuck-up, spoiled brat. And I'm not. End debate, ha, I win." The pale teen simply shook his head and sighed again before going upstairs to bed. This left the spirit alone to his thoughts.

_What if he has changed? Is that even possible? Maybe…everyone likes him now, and he's not in charge anymore, he doesn't control their lives…but still, he's still the same person. Right? He grew up the same, a spoiled palace brat who everyone agreed with at all costs…but he doesn't remember it. And Yugi was the first person he was around, in his memory, and even I'll admit that Yugi's a sweet kid. Naive, way too innocent for his own good, and an overly hyper little shrimp, but basically a sweet kid, despite the guy he shares a mind link with. But is that enough to change a lifetime of people saying he could do whatever he wanted, even if people suffered from it? Of everyone agreeing with his every word, every action, every everything? It's not possible to change that…is it? _The spirit sighed. _Why can't he just leave me alone?_

He had no way of knowing that, across town, the other spirit was having similar thoughts. Yami lay in bed, curled up into a small ball shape, a teddy bear in his arms. _What am I supposed to do now? There's no way to make this up to him, what happened was…completely unforgivable. I can't really even blame him for hating me, even if I don't remember being that person, doing that to him. Gods, is there any way anymore to make him trust me even enough to talk to me? Long enough for me to apologize, even? Is it even possible anymore? _

_I wonder what I was like then, to even think it would be all right to hurt him like that…_

Owari

See author notes in middle please! I completed my little rant there.

Ja ne, minna-san!


	9. Chapter 9

Started: September 21, 2006

Maybe I'll actually be able to finish in a reasonable amount of time this chapter….

Thanks to Molly and Elise for dealing with my constant bugging due to excessive stuckness!!!

Chapter 9

As soon as he woke up and glanced out the window, Bakura knew it was going to be a miserable day.

First of all, there were the events of yesterday and all the emotional repercussions of that. Second of all, his stupid brain kept questioning whether it was possible for Yami to have changed—almost as if he wanted to believe it were true! And last, but definitely not least, it was cold. And raining. In Bakura's mind, the temperature should never fall below about 75 degrees, and it should never rain for more than three months out of the year. Unfortunately, Japan's climate didn't follow those rules as well as Egypt had. All these things individually would have made a bad day, but with them in combination, the spirit could already tell he had an awful day ahead of him.

"Yami…" Ryou's voice called from downstairs, "If you want breakfast, you better get downstairs before it gets cold!"

_Well, we can't have that, now can we…_ Bakura thought grumpily. But he went down. Even 5000+ year old spirits get hungry. And it was too cold to eat cold food.

As he entered the kitchen, the spirit noticed the absence of one of their usual breakfast guests. "Where's your beloved boyfriend, hikari?"

"Isis is arriving today, I told you." Ryou answered absentmindedly. "He won't be around much today, I don't think. But I've got quite a bit of homework to do, so you'll be mostly on your own today. I hope you don't mind."

"Nah. Where's the food?" His hikari just shook his head in despair before pointing to the table.

An hour later, Ryou had begun his math, completely missing the fact that his yami had walked outside without a coat into pouring rain. Said spirit didn't really notice the wetness so much, though; he was completely absorbed into his own thoughts. Of course, this annoyed him somewhat, because the same circle of concepts had been running through his brain for almost since he had woken up. _Has he really changed, is it possible, I can't trust him, but can I maybe? No, that's stupid…._ And, of course, all these troublesome thoughts were focused around the one person he really wanted out of his mind.

The spirit stopped in front of a store window. It was Sunday, so the store itself was closed….but it didn't seem so hard to get into. The security system wasn't great, and since it was rainy, there was no one around to see him pick the lock. And that was a really nice dagger in the window…that one with the little pewter rose curling around a dull iron sheath, with a blade like an oversized thorn and a handle shaped like overlapping leaves. A bit sentimental, perhaps, but it looked sharp. And Ryou had just finished confiscating all his other knives.

"Moshimoshi? …Oh, hi Seto!" The small teen smiled happily, glad to hear his boyfriend's voice on the phone. He'd been too shy to call himself, wondering in the back of his head if last night had just been a little too much alcohol…of course, he hadn't told Yami about that particular concern, not wanting to tell the spirit that Malik had brought alcohol (apparently without Ryou's knowledge, from his friend's reaction…). It seemed unjustified, anyways. "Oh, you're not working today? That's great! You need to relax more…" Yugi giggled slightly. "oh, ano…" He blushed. "I-I'd like to come over, yes. I'll see you soon, then!" He turned around to walk down the stairs, but instead almost ran into his yami.

The spirit was smiling slightly, seeming bemused. "I take it you're going to Seto's?" The teen nodded. "I'll take care of the shop then."

Yugi looked horrified. "Oh, I completely forgot we were going to stay open today! Gomen nasai…(I'm sorry…)" He stopped as he heard Yami laugh.

"It's fine, I really don't mind, hikari." He ruffled the teen's hair slightly. "Go have fun." Yugi smiled happily and nodded before running down the stairs. "Don't forget an umbrella!" the ex-pharaoh yelled after him.

Walking more slowly after his hikari, Yami went over to the door and turned the sign to 'open'. _It probably won't be very busy today—no one likes traveling in this weather._ That meant lots of time to think. _Joyous._ Thinking was bad. Too much bad had happened yesterday, and too much of it was still left unresolved. Bad vents, combined with too much empty time, seem to be some demented formula for moping and just general bad thoughts….as if his dreams the night before hadn't had enough bad thoughts.

Bakura woke up, once again, feeling absolutely miserable. But it was a different type of miserable than the day before. Now, it was perfectly sunny out, and the thermometer outside his window read almost 80degrees—warm for the time of year, and usually warm enough for Bakura to be all right, but for some reason, he was still freezing. And whereas he had been slightly depressed due to unpleasant thoughts the day before, his head now felt too clogged to think at all. Not to mention, he couldn't breathe through his nose, and his throat hurt like hell.

"Yami! Your food is getting cold!" Apparently he had slept through Ryou's first breakfast call. That was unusual. The promise of food was one of the few things that could actually succeed in dragging a tired thief out of bed. He tried to get up—and promptly collapsed.

"Da—owww…" It hurt to talk. _Must go along with this whole pain-in-the-throat thing…_ He heard his hikari walking up the stairs and tried to stand again. This time he succeeded. _My legs are noodles. Why are my legs noodles? They're supposed to have bone in them…_

Ryou walked into the room. "Yami, I've called you three times al—oh, my, you look awful."

"Feel awful, too." _Why am I talking? It hurts. No more talking._

The teen shook his head. "Sit down, yami. I'm going to go find a thermometer." The spirit obeyed, for once. His head hurt too much to come up with a snappy comeback.

A moment later, he was awoken by having a cold glass tube thrust under his tongue. _…I dozed off? But I just woke up._ A moment later, the object was pulled out—just as it had gotten warm, too. Ryou looked at it for a moment before shaking his head.

"You've got a high fever, Yami. What have you been doing, running around in the rain?" Bakura nodded, and the teen shook his head again, sighing. "Well, I can't leave you here alone like this. Stay in bed, all right? You're officially sick, you can't be up and about today. Or for a few days to come, by the looks of this." Bakura was only too happy to go back under the warm covers and fall asleep.

The spirit was awakened once again what felt like just moments later by his hikari's footsteps entering the room. "All right, 'Kura. I want you to stay in bed today, you'll just get worse if you try to be active. That means no yelling fights, either. And nothing too hard to digest. We don't want you throwing up, on top of everything else….In any case, just try to stay calm and sleep. Yami's going to come an--"

"WHAT??? Owww…" The spirit groaned as he rubbed his throat. _All right, no yelling fights is OK. Yelling hurts. _

Ryou sighed. "I know you don't like him, yami, but everyone else is at school, and you're really too sick to be home alone. It'll be all right." Bakura tried to speak again, but was cut off when the hikari continued to talk. "There's soup in the refrigerator, you can eat that if you get hungry. It'll need heating, though. Just ask Yami if you need anything, but you should really try to sleep. That's best for you right now." The doorbell rang. "I've got to go, 'Kura. See you after school." Ryou walked towards the door before pausing and turning back to look at the spirit. "And yami? Try not to argue, please….you'll get worse if you use all your energy fighting. See you later."

As the door closed, Bakura muttered to himself, "It will _not_ be 'all right'. Hmph….as if I'd ask that bastard for help…" Rolling over, the spirit allowed himself to drift back into much-needed sleep.

The spirit woke once again, having no idea what time it was or how long he'd been asleep. He looked around the room for his clock and noticed a hot bowl of soup next to the bed. _Good, hikari left so—no. Hikari went to school. Evil bastard left soup. ….Wait. Since when do evil bastards leave soup? Note to self: think about that when my mind is working again. Do I eat evil bastard's soup? I'm hungry. _He started to reach for the bowl before pulling his hand back and shaking his head, as if to clear it. _No. It's evil bastard's soup. It might be poisoned or drugged or something….but why would he, I'm already kinda helpless here….maybe he doesn't know that. Nope, not eating the soup._ The spirit rolled over again, ignoring the bowl of hot food next to him. _It's a good thing my nose is clogged and I can't smell it anyways. Much less tempting. _

Half an hour or so later, Yami entered the room. He found a bowl of now-cold soup still sitting, untouched, on the bedside table. The spirit sighed dejectedly, looking unhappily at the sleeping thief.

_I wish you'd at least let me help you get better….I wish you'd let me at least try to make this up to you, even if that's impossible. I'd like to be able to try. _

Author Notes

I'm putting these here because I need a little time-break and takes out the little row of stars-with-no-words, so I put in words in the form of the beloved Author Notes!! Also, a few people told me author notes in the middle were better. So here they shall stay, unless there are enough complaints to warrant moving them again.

Thank you, everyone who has sent in reviews for chapter 8 so far. I apologize that it takes me so long to get chapters out. It's really not purposeful. The main reason right now is that Bakura is fighting me every step of the way….his character is getting a little out of control, making it hard to get the plot where I want it to go. By the way, if things seem a little forced or way out of character at this point…yeah, blame Bakura's little hissy fit. The general gist of which is 'No way in hell am I going along with authoress's little evil plot twists!!! No!!' Think little two-year-old who's been told he can't have a candy bar while waiting in line at the grocery store…. -.- I apologize for this as well.

Now that I think about it, incoherent or otherwise strange thoughts on Bakura's part are the results of his nasty little fever. Those are not attributed to his hissy fit. Yes, this does include his bizarre reaction to hot soup and his new nickname for Yami.

Actually, they are. If he went along with the original plot line, he wouldn't have needed the fever. But the mean little thief just wouldn't trust the pharaoh…. . 

And I do apologize for all the little time breaks in this chapter. It's the result of trying to cover what, 7 days in one chapter? I've been trying to avoid it, but there's only so long I can drag out a device to make Bakura tolerate Yami!!! Gomen nasai, minna-san! . 

Ja ne, minna-san!

Owari!! (Wow, Japanese looks so weird written in romaji…)

Bakura awoke the next day tired and achy. _Still sick…where's Hikari? I want food._ The spirit tried to sit, then stand, but quickly lay back down, huddling underneath the covers. _Damn. Since when is Japan so goddamned cold???_ The spirit curled up in a ball, blankets wrapped tightly around him, and was about to doze off when the door to his room opened. He heard footsteps cross the floor, and rolled over.

"Hika—oh, it's _you._ Go away." He returned to his previous position, back to the door, with the blankets pulled up to his chin.

Yami sighed dejectedly and walked over to the sick spirit. "Hey."

"I said, go away."

The ex-pharaoh's tone revealed his hurt as he whispered, "You need to eat, Bakura. You need the energy to recover."

"I don't want anything _you_ make, Pharaoh."

Yami flinched slightly at this, his face taking on a pained expression. "…All right…" he murmured, and left the room. And Bakura dozed off.

Downstairs, Yami sat on the sofa. The TV was on, but the spirit no longer knew or cared what was on. His thoughts focused on the sick thief sleeping upstairs. _I should really check on him…_ Yami told himself that he wanted to check to make sure he was fulfilling the job he had committed to, but in his heart, the spirit really wanted to see Bakura again, even if he knew the other spirit would only either ignore him or tell him to leave. Either way, he gave into his desire, and walked silently up the stairs.

As he entered the thief's room, Yami could tell that Bakura had already fallen asleep once again. He walked over to the side of the bed and touched the back of his hand to the spirit's forehead, _to check for a fever_, he told himself. However, Bakura immediately flinched away, momentary panic flitting across his face, as if the thief had experienced a nightmare. Yami's eyes fell slightly in sorrow at Bakura's blatant, if unconscious, display of mistrust. _I really wish he would trust me._ Backing away slightly, the ex-pharaoh slowly walked back to his old seat in front of the TV, still thinking about his patient. _Did he really tell me everything? I mean, I know what he did tell me about the past is horrible….but….it's been five millennia. That seems like such a long time to hold a grudge…was it, perhaps, much worse in experience than he could say in words? If that were the case, I'd need to remember in order to understand. _He sighed. _Is there a way to regain memories? Beyond the memory world? There's still much I don't recall about my past. _Suddenly, his face brightened slightly. If he had been in an old cartoon show, or in Xanth (sorry, random reference!), a light bulb would have appeared over his head. _Isis is here, Ryou said. She'd know if I can remember. _The spirit made up his mind to talk to the Egyptian woman later that very day.

Time Break

Later that evening, Yami walked into the darkened Domino Museum, following a map to find the room in which he was supposed to meet Isis. He hadn't yet told the woman why he wanted to speak with her; the spirit wasn't quite sure how she'd take to the idea, plus he didn't know if it was even possible, and so wanted to speak with her in person before she could refuse.

He turned one final corner before entering the room where the priestess stood waiting. Unlike the hallways of the building, this area was lit well enough to appreciate the treasures spaced around the room. This light also made it easy to see other people, which would have been near-impossible in the dim corridors. The spirit stood admiring the golden mask beside him for a moment, slightly and inexplicably nervous about the rapidly approaching conversation, before turning to the woman across the room from him and saying, "Isis."

The priestess turned, smiling, and walked over to her friend (as they had become in the year or so since Battle City). "Greetings, my pharaoh. What can I do for you today?"

Yami returned her smile hesitantly before embarking on a long ramble explaining the nature of his request in a long, winding, convoluted manner, ending in, "I suppose I'm really just wondering if there's any way to obtain the memories that were not found in the memory world. I thought you'd be the one to ask, and since you were in town…"

Isis smiled once again, but this time, a hint of sadness lingered in her expressive eyes. "Yes, there is." The spirit opened his mouth to speak, looking eager, but was cut off as she continued. "However, Pharaoh, there is a price." She paused. "The memories that remained sealed after the memory world were locked farther in your mind than the others. This means that either they are likely to be more traumatic or upsetting, or basically to have a negative affect on you, than the others, or they just weren't particularly memorable in the first place. That's usually why the mind pushes such things away." Her smile faded as she looked worriedly at her friend. "Are you sure you wish to remember everything? Some things are best left buried."

Yami nodded. "It's important, though I can't say why right now."

Isis nodded. She turned around and moved her arms somewhat, though Yami couldn't see what she was doing.

Suddenly, he was sliding into a long tunnel of stone, with open doorways flashing quickly past. Every so often, a door would be open only a crack, and the spirit would reach to try to see more; however, he was swept past by an invisible force every time.

All of a sudden, the force stopped. The spirit stood and looked around himself, confused. _Every door here is closed…_ The thought echoed down the hallway as if he'd spoken it aloud. Yami furrowed his brows, confused, before reaching out to touch the handle of the nearest door. With some work and a lot of shoving, the door opened just a crack, then slid silently and easily aside…

Yami suddenly stood in a small, cramped room. The area was lit by a single torch, revealing stone blocks and a heavy wooden door on one side of the room. His head turned without his willing it to, and the spirit realized that he was trapped in a memory of his past self, unable to affect or change his actions in the past in any way. As his head continued to turn, Yami saw a man chained to the wall in front of him, his long silvery gray hair hanging in front of his face as his head hung low. Blood flowed sluggishly from a cut on his left shoulder, and more dried blood practically coated one thigh. Yami's body, currently not under his control, laughed slightly as he walked towards the other man. The man's head lifted to glare at him, and Yami was startled to see Bakura's hateful glower from this prisoner. Yes, the other spirit had told him of this, and of course he had believed him, but at the same time, it was hard to imagine Bakura submitting to such treatment…

The scene changed. The room was the same, but this time, a previously invisible door stood open. In the exposed room, a young boy knelt, shielding his eyes. The area behind him was pitch dark, but the spirit thought he could see a slim line of light where another door may open into the hallway he somehow knew lay beyond. His body grabbed the teen by the arm, pulling him into the light room. Then it turned to face Bakura, who still stood chained to the wall. The captive's face showed a mix of horror and rage, and the spirit heard him yell, "Let him go! He's done nothing to you, nothing!" But before he could hear more, the scene changed once again.

He now stood in a deserted room, with a stone slab in front of him. A body lay on the slab, with dried blood on its torso and arms, in addition to the back of its legs. With a start, Yami recognized silvery gray hair and unnaturally pale skin. _…Bakura???_ But the face was softer, less angled than Bakura's; even when the thief slept he retained some of the sharper angles in his face. Suddenly, he remembered Bakura's story of a few days ago. _Ryou….oh gods…..no, wait, there's got to be a mistake here! He's so badly hurt…_ A man, dressed in expensive silks, walked up to him and whispered, "does this meet your will, Pharaoh?" But the scene was already shifting, for the third time. As it faded out, he heard his own voice whisper, in a cruel and almost laughing tone, "Yes, this will do well to lure him back…"

Numerous other scenes flashed by, including memories of his childhood and more images of that room and the events that followed from there. But none stood out so much as those first three in his mind, partly because they confirmed Bakura's story to the letter, and partly because it was so difficult to believe that this was truly how he had been, at a level that was impossible to convey to someone who could not remember the events….

And, at some point, he found himself back in the room of treasures in the Domino Museum, panting heavily. His body had fallen to the ground at some point during the chain of memories, he couldn't say where, and Isis sat on a chair nearby, asleep. He wrote a short note thanking her for her trouble before heading to the park to think things over. _I can't talk to her just now…or to anyone else really. I never imagined….I could have been so different then….no wonder he hates to be near me so much. _

Time Break

After spending a sleepless night wandering the expansive grounds of Domino Park, Yami walked slowly to Ryou and Bakura's house. Bakura was still asleep, and Ryou was rushing out the door to get to school on time as he walked in the door. The spirit sat down as soon as the hikari was out the door, trying to think how he could possibly tell Bakura of his new knowledge.

When Bakura awoke, he rolled over to find a piece of paper on the bed next to him. Looking closer, he saw his hikari's handwriting.

_Bakura_

_I hope you're feeling better now than you have the past few days. You slept too late for me to ask before school, but that's all right. You need rest, so try to stay in bed, all right? There's some food downstairs if you're hungry. Ask Yami to heat it up for you—I'm sure he won't mind. Don't you try to go do it yourself, yami! You'll just use up your energy, which means healing slower. See you when I get home!_

_Ryou_

The spirit stared at the paper for a moment, waiting for the words to penetrate the foggy haze surrounding his brain. "Meh…no. Not letting evil-bastard make me food. Silly hikari, I can do it." The spirit didn't even realize he was speaking out loud. "Here we go…" He stood, shakily, and pulled one of the heavier blankets around himself before heading for the stairs.

Yami stood up quickly, turning, as he heard footsteps on the stairs. Seeing his pale patient walking towards him, the ex-pharaoh flinched slightly, remembering the events of the previous evening. Bakura had continued on to the kitchen, ignoring him completely, before he managed to shake himself out of the memories. Yami quickly followed, worried that the other spirit would hurt himself. _Why is he out of bed?_

As he entered the kitchen, Yami saw Bakura studying the microwave intently, a bowl of cold oatmeal sitting next to him. "Here, I can do that," he said. Bakura jumped, as if he hadn't heard the ex-pharaoh enter, and spun around; however, the loss of balance caused by his fever mixed with the spinning motion caused him to fall. Yami lunged forward, catching the man in his arms before he could hit the ground.

The spirit froze. He'd known he cared for Bakura for a while now, but this was the first time he'd been so close to the other spirit. His every sense seemed somehow heightened, simply from the thief's proximity to him….

He shook the mood off. Now was no time to be zoning out. "Go to bed, Bakura," he pleaded, "You need the rest. You'll never get better like this…"

The thief stood, wobbling, and tried to glare through eyes lidded with exhaustion. It failed, miserably, making him look rather pathetic instead of angry, but that's besides the point. "What, so you can drug my food or something? No." His voice was harsh and rough, a result of his sore throat, and it sounded as though it would be painful to talk.

Yami paused, slightly hurt despite knowing the reasons for Bakura's mistrust. "…Do you really think I'd do that?"

The thief turned back to his soup, facing away from the other spirit. "Nooo….I've got _so_ many reasons to trust you, why would I possibly think you'd try to hurt me?" The sarcasm in Bakura's tone was thick enough to cut with a knife. Yami flinched involuntarily, once again remembering his newfound memories.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, you know. Honestly, I'm not." Bakura ignored him. Yami felt frustration building inside of him. "Bakura, at least listen to me! I know I hurt you, Ra knows I was an absolute _idiot_, to put it lightly, and I can't apologize enough for that. But Bakura, that was five millennia ago!" He paused for a moment, then almost whispered, "How long will you hold this grudge?"

Bakura spun around. His eyes no longer looked quite so tired, and his whole body reflected his anger as he yelled, "Don't you act like you know everything, pharaoh! You don't know me at all!" His voice lowered exponentially, but the tone became dangerous, the type of voice Bakura would use only with those he was truly furious with. He spoke quickly in this low, deadly tone, saying, "You were as good as not there, for all you remember. All you know, pharaoh, is what I told you, and that sure as hell isn't everything, and being told sure as hell isn't the same as being there. So don't you dare act like you understand what I went through, because there's absolutely no way, not unless you found a way to get your goddamned memories back, and—"

"And I did!" Yami was now not quite yelling, but certainly speaking in earnest, and he clearly meant every word he said. "Isis knew how to unlock them, and I do remember now, and though I can't see things fully from your point of view, because I'm not you, I can certainly understand what happened! I've done everything I can to understand, Bakura, and I know I was an absolute bastard then and I'm so sorry…" His expression changed from earnest insistence to a sort of pleading misery, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm so sorry…"

Bakura stood there for a moment. _No. He can't remember. He can't. He'll try something again, if he knows everything, or he'll tell people, or something, and…no, no, NO!_ The thief took a few steps back, then ran out of the room, yelling, "I hate you, bastard!!!" at the top of his lungs.

Yami flinched at the other spirit's harsh words. His breathing grew labored as he heard Bakura's footsteps race up the stairs and into his room, and the door slam and lock behind him. He collapsed to the floor, sobbing. "I'm so sorry, Bakura…."

Ryou walked into the house several hours later. As he entered the living room, he noticed Yami asleep on the sofa, a pillow clutched tightly against his chest. Even in his sleep, the spirit was noticeably upset, though not so much as before. The teen shook him awake. "Yami…Yami, wake up, please. I'm home." He frowned slightly as the spirit sat up. "Did something happen? You seem sad…"

Yami blinked, then smiled, though the expression didn't reach his eyes. Ryou recognized the attempt to conceal his emotions. He'd used it many times himself. "No…no, everything's fine. There's no need to worry."

The teen nodded. "I won't keep you then. Thank you for coming." However, as Yami walked away, he couldn't help but wonder what Bakura had managed to do that threw the ex-pharaoh so off balance….

He was also furious that his yami could be so cruel, when Yugi's spirit was really only trying to help him. And Bakura's side of the link was blocked off….he walked up the stairs to his yami's room. Entering, he angrily asked, "Yami, what the heck did you do to—" Then he saw Bakura.

The spirit was sitting in the back corner of the room, as far away from the door as possible. He was wrapped in numerous blankets, with pillows scattered all around him. The bed was empty. "Go 'way…" the spirit muttered.

Ryou walked over to Bakura's side, sitting down beside him. "'Kura, what happened? You're both so upset." He gasped as he was suddenly pulled into a hug.

"Not again, hikari. I won't let it happen again…" the spirit murmured. He sounded scared, but also half asleep.

Ryou frowned, confused. "What? Don't let what happen? Bakura!" But the spirit had already fallen asleep.

Owari

All right, chapter ended!!

We have a second computer here now!! Well, we've had it for years, but it's just now hooked up again. The thing is ancient. It has Word, some kind of CD player (nothing so advanced as iTunes or something like it, though), and no internet access or other distracting games. This last detail makes it so much easier for me to sit down and write a good three pages or whatever at once!! I love it.

Who would have thought an 11-year-old computer could be so much fun???

Anyways, please review!! I appreciate any meaningful comments, including constructive criticism. Flames will be used to light incense. Or ridiculed, depending on the content.

Oh, and be proud of me I'm up to 8 pages, and this may be the fastest I've gotten a chapter out in ages!!

Sayonara!!

Finished: October 8, 2006

Writing time: 2 weeks, 4 days


	10. Chapter 10

Hello!!

Thanks to you all for your reviews. The author is well-fed!! Either that, or losing appetite….but whatever.

I actually need to pay attention in math, now that my grade's dropped to a C (on which I blame my teacher's lack of ability to teach, but my GPA doesn't take that into its calculations…), so I sadly can no longer use those 48 minutes to write. I now must resort to writing in Latin instead of sleeping. Not too much of a sacrifice, I suppose.

­

I'll get to the point now.

Same disclaimer and warnings as the last 9 chapters. I wonder at your intelligence if 9 repetitions can't get something stuck in your mind. Oh, and I don't own Lucky Charms either.

Written later: I do apologize for such a delay!! I know how it messes up the story line…life's just been hectic lately. Which is really no excuse. The truth is, the chapter's been all ready to type for a while, and I haven't ad enough private time with the computer to type it up yet. Which is also not really an excuse, but it is more accurate. I'm very sorry!!

Also in the excuses for delay category: THIS ONE IS A LEGITIMATE EXCUSE AND NOT MY FAULT!!!!! This chapter was actually finished a week and a half or so before posting. See, I do my writing on a really old computer we have. It doesn't have internet access and it can't put files on CD's, only floppies; this makes it prime for writing, because a) no one else uses it and b) it has so many less distractions. The problem is, the same day as I finished the chapter, I learned that the floppy drive on the computer that does have internet access—hence, the computer I use to post chapters—is broken. I couldn't get my file!!! So I had to get a friend to get the file off the floppy and email it to me. . She procrastinated—and forgot—and procrastinated—and procrastinated—etc, etc, etc. So it's taken me an extra week and a half to post this. Gomen nasai!!! But I do finally have at least one legitimate excuse now….

This broken floppy thing may also delay future chapters. My parents can read files saved on the computer, so until I learn to save word files on CDs, things may be slow. (I really don't want parents reading this….) Which drives me crazy—I finally have no sign of writer's block, and look what happens!!!!

Chapter 10 (Already? 10? Wow, time flies….well, maybe just in my world. When did I start this story again? …Maybe it has been a while…)

Bakura opened one eye and glanced over at his clock. Ryou had wisely given him a clock without an alarm….which was the reason the clock was more than a pile of circuit boards right now, in all truth. Smart hikari. In any case, the non-pile-of-circuit-board clock currently read 7:15 AM. _All right…so hikari's still home now. I'll get food now, then. _The spirit stood, stretching. _Hey…I'm not falling over anymore. And it's not freezing. _He smiled before walking towards the stairs.

Ryou glanced up as the thief entered the kitchen, then smiled. "Oh, morning 'Kura!" he chirped happily. "Feeling better?"

"Mwrf," Bakura replied, his mouth full of the Lucky Charms he'd just found in the cabinet. "How long have these been here and why haven't I eaten them all yet?"

The hikari laughed quietly before answering, "They've been here a few days now. There are still some left because you've been too sick to root around for sugary cereal lately. And you should really be eating something healthier, yami." Despite the slight scolding in his words, Ryou's tone was bemused.

"Like what? There's no bacon cooked." Seeing his hikari sigh lightly, Bakura added, "Oh come on, Ry, do you want to _drown_ me in soup?" Ryou just smiled softly without answering.

A little while later, Ryou stood and walked over to the counter, where the phone sat. Bakura groaned. "Hikari, I'm better now! Don't call him."

"You had a high fever yesterday, yami," the hikari remarked. "Even if you feel better now, it's possible it'll come back." Seeing the spirit's frown, he added, "If you're fine all day today, and I mean really fine, not just saying you are, then you'll be able to stay on your own tomorrow, all right?"

Bakura pouted. "Fine. But don't expect me to be nice." He stalked over to the sofa, seating himself in his favorite spot and turning on the TV. He ignored the doorbell when it rang, and pretty much everything that went on around him, for several more hours.

However, at that point, Yami came and sat down next to him, wrecking his concentration. _Dammit, Pharaoh, don't distract me! _ He thought. _I'm trying to ignore you!_ But these, being thoughts, were not heard and therefore were ignored.

The thief's diligence was ruined even further when his unwanted companion, still looking at the TV, said in a voice somewhere between a whisper and normal speech, "Bakura…"

"….Hn." Bakura shifted slightly, scooting farther away from his unwanted companion.

Yami continued, a note of pleading entering his voice. "Bakura, please talk to me."

"I have nothing to say to you." The thief's voice was cold, almost like ice, as he stared pointedly at the TV, despite the fact that he no longer knew what he was watching.

"Bakura." The spirit finally glanced at Yami's face, surprised to see sorrow reflected in the ex-pharaoh's eyes. "Do you really hate me so much?" Bakura looked away without answering. "Please tell me. I…I just want to know honestly."

Bakura stood abruptly. "I'm hungry." He walked quickly into the kitchen. A few moments later, he returned with more Lucky Charms. He sat once again, in the same spot as before; this surprised Yami, who thought the other spirit would choose a spot as far away from him as possible. For a while, there was no sound except for the racket of the TV and the sound of dry marshmallows crunching between Bakura's teeth as the thief carefully avoided the bland cereal bits. Yami had just turned away, about to give up on an answer to his question when he heard the other spirit's voice whisper almost inaudibly, "Then…yes, without any doubt. Now…"

"Now?" The ex-pharaoh's tone revealed his anxiousness, but he didn't look at his companion.

Bakura's voice continued even more quietly, so that Yami had to lean closer to hear him at all. "I don't know…" Yami's head snapped around quickly to look at the thief, but Bakura was already fast asleep. The shorter spirit smiled and draped a blanket over the pale man.

"Sleep well, Bakura."

Time Break (Gomen nasai—I'm trying to get rid of these, really!!

The next morning, Bakura walked into the kitchen just moments after his hikari did. He sniffed the air, then smiled happily. "I smell bacon!!"

"Yep," Ryou answered. "So now you can eat the healthy food you need while I get at least one bowl of sweet cereal, for once!"

The spirit pouted. "Oh, come on, can't I just have bacon and lucky Charms?"

"No. You ate over half the box yesterday, anyways, yami. You'll just make yourself sick again if you keep acting like that." The spirit pouted. "'Kura, you like eggs, remember?"

"But you keep insisting on _cooking_ them!"

The hikari sweatdropped.

After breakfast, Ryou walked over to the door, picking up his coat and school bag along the way. Bakura blinked before asking, surprised, "You're gonna let me stay alone?"

The hikari smiled, bemused. "Unless there was a problem Yami didn't mention yesterday, you'll probably be fine."

"Finally!!" Bakura was grinning like a maniac, mentally listing the various uses for his new dagger, the one he had gotten sick while stealing.

"…If and ONLY IF you can manage to stay quiet on your own, 'Kura. No terrorizing the general public today. Or any specific member of the general public, for that matter." The spirit glared at him. "Well, if that's settled, yami…" Ryou smiled sweetly. "I'll see you this afternoon!"

Half an hour later, Bakura had pulled on his own jacket, and was happily relaxing on a sunny tree branch in Domino Park. Well, not quite happily…

_Why the hell did that bastard spend practically a week sitting in my house, with me completely helpless, and not even try anything? _

You see, Bakura's mind was quite busy trying to figure out what was going on in his worst enemy's head.

_I guess he might not have wanted to get sick. But then why come to my house at all? He actually seemed worried. But he never worried in the past. Heck, he never worried in this life. Not about me, not unless I was trying to hurt Yugi or his pathetic little friends. _The spirit scowled. _So why did he try to help me? _

A little voice spoke in the back of his head. _You really want to trust him, you know. _

_No, I don't. I can't. He's done too much. _

_But you want to. There's a chance you can, now. He's helped you. He could have jumped you when you couldn't stand on your own without falling over, you know. He didn't. _

_That's irrelevant. _

_Now you sound like Kaiba._

_WHAT??_

_Since when does the great and mighty Thief King use big words?_

_Since forever. And it's still besides the point. _

_It is not. He could have had his way with you, he didn't, so you can trust him now._

_He's trying to get me to trust him. Things'll be much easier for him if I'm nottrying to actively resist. _

_But he's not. At least, you don't think so. _

_You're right. I don't think so. I KNOW so. _

_You want to trust him. _

…_You know what? Why am I talking to you anyways? You're just a little voice in my head. Go away. _

_Talking to yourself. A first sign of insanity…._ And the voice faded away.

But Bakura's thoughts stayed.

_What if my little voice is right? What if I can trust him?_

_What the hell am I supposed to do now?_

Break (Sorry!)

As he came within sight of home for the third time that day, Bakura noticed the mail truck driving away. He opened the mailbox, mainly to check for anything interesting, but saw only a slim envelope. It had no address, return or otherwise, and no stamp on it; in fact, the only thing visible on the envelope was his name. Bakura blinked at the letter—or note—or whatever it was before bringing it into the house and sitting down on the sofa to open it.

_Bakura_

_I—I'm not really sure where to start with this, honestly. I just…need to tell you how I feel, I guess. However cheesy that may sound. _

_First of all, I'd like to tell you that you really have nothing to fear from me at this point. I know what happened in the past, and…I really am sorry about everything. Truly, Bakura. I…there's really no words to describe how selfish and—well, just plain _stupid_ I was. Nothing like that will ever happen again. That much I can guarantee you. _

_Secondly, I can honestly see why you'd hate me. At this point, I'm in complete agreement with your opinion about my past self. As far as I can tell, I had no redeeming qualities, except maybe a desire to protect my country. But that didn't do much for you, did it….But I also know that I am different now. I know better than to do whatever I want, even if it hurts people; I know there are far more important things in life than me, and that there are so many of these impartant things--people, places, just…everything…_

_I'm rambling, aren't I. _

_My point is, I have changed…almost to a different person, I think. I wish you'd give me a chance. _

_I—I'm sorry, Bakura. Truly, I am._

_Yami. _

Bakura blinked. His mind felt numb, as if thoughts were processing far slower than they should be. _…What ? Dammit! What the hell is that bastard_ thinking

_I don't understand what the hell is going ion in his head…_ Bakura was surprised to hear a slightly mournful note in his thoughts. _I didn't know thoughts could complain be mournful against the thinker's will._

He stood and walked towards the door. _How dare that idiot mess with _my_ mind like this? Damn him!! _The spirit quickly grew angrier, scowling as he crumpled the paper in his fist and strode purposefully down the street towards Yami's house.

Author Notes

Heh…sorry for the break, once again!! In any case, I would like to explain that Bakura is operating under the influence of bad judgement and quite a bit of pent-up anger at the moment. Plus, time may not seem to follow its normal path for a while. Pretend all the hikaris had something to do after school or something. Or just ignore the fact that it's already probably noonish and the plot won't allow Yugi and Ryou to go home anytime soon…That's all. Thanks for your patience!!

End Author Notes

Yami, at this time, was sitting on his sofa. He'd dropped his note off in Bakura's mailbox almost an hour ago now. _He's sure to be getting it soon. I wonder how he'll react…_

_Well, he can't hate me much more at this point, can he?_

Suddenly, he heard a loud noise from downstairs, as if someone had slammed the shop door. Which, now that he thought about it, had been left unlocked. _Well, that wasn't smart of me, now was it._ Yami walked downstairs to see what was going on.

He'd been expecting an excited child too young to go to school. Or perhaps a stressed businessman looking for a gift for a kid while on his lunch break. In fact, one of the few things he wasn't expecting to see was a furious Bakura standing in the doorway. The spirit looked stunned, and slightly afraid, like a deer caught in a car's headlights. _I thought he'd be far too angry to some here…_He immediately turned around and walked back into the home-like part of the building, working to keep his breathing steady.

"Don't walk away from me, pharaoh!" The thief was following him. Typical—Bakura never gave up on anything, did he…Yami felt a tear trail down his cheek.

"Bastard, turn around and face me! Come on, don't tell me the magnificent _pharaoh_ is scared…" His tone was mocking. The pale spirit finally caught up to Yami and stood in front of him, forcing him to stop. "What the hell were you th--" There was a pause, then Bakura spoke again, in a quieter but overly blunt tone. "Why're you crying?"

"Why do you think?"

"Why the hell should I know??"

Yami pushed past the thief and walked over to the sofa. Sitting, he replied, in a low voice, "It's really your fault. But that's my fault to start out with. And--"

"Dammit, pharaoh, if you can't talk without babbling like a lunatic maybe I'm better off just ignoring you entirely from now on!"

"Shut up, do you want to know or not??" The thief glared, but shutted up. (The author knows shutted is not a word. The author ignores this fact entirely.) "The point is, the reason I'm upset is, you'll barely talk to me, and when you do it's just to yell and threaten and argue and curse!! And the worst part is, I know it's my fault, you _don't_ need to remind me, thank you very much! It's entirely my fault, much as I wish it wasn't…" His voice faded out.

Bakura was now staring at the back of Yami's head with a mixture of confusion and extreme dislike painted across his face. "And why the hell do you care what I do?" His tone was accusatory. "You never cared before, you never gave a goddamned hoot what I said or wanted, why the sudden change now??" But his mind murmured to him, offering a twinge of doubt, _he cared when you were sick…he took care of you, he helped you…he did whatever you asked him to, unless it would hurt you. He did care…_

There was a moment of silence before he heard a murmured answer from the other spirit, but couldn't understand the whispered words. Anger flit across his face as the thief glared furiously at Yami's head.

"What was that, Pharaoh?" His tone was mocking. "Come on, don't be shy…it's not like you can mess up any more than you already have." The pharaoh flinched at his blunt, undisguised hatred. Yami sank lower into the sofa, shoulders sagging, before answering.

"I don't want you to hate me."

Bakura had to admit it; he was caught off guard. If Yami had been facing him, the ex-pharaoh would have seen surprise, shock, and even a small amount of guilt fly quickly across his pale features. He had been caught speechless. But the thief recovered quickly, and his face returned to its previous smirk. "Oh, really?" The mocking tone lingered. "And why not, my _dear_ pharaoh?" He spit out the last word like a curse as sarcasm practically dripped from his lips.

Yami gave no answer.

"Oi, baka!" Bakura's eyes hardened, and he grew angrier. "Why the hell would you care if I hate you now? You're the one who caused it! You're--"

"No, stop…stop it, Bakura, please." Yami's almost pleading voice was tight, as if he were trying to hold back tears.

"Then tell me!!"

There was a moment of silence. Then a slight whisper filled the air; "…I—I love you."

Bakura was knocked speechless for the second time in as many minutes. But this time, the shock didn't wear off so quickly. He stood completely unarmed, confusion mixing with surprise in his deep brown eyes. "…what?" This was his first honest question, asked with no mockery in his voice. But he, once again, received no answer.

He walked over to face the man he had always assumed to be his enemy. Grabbing Yami's chin, Bakura gently forced the other spirit to look up at him, attracting his attention without harming him. His expression was unreadable. "What's going on in your head, pharaoh?" His tone remained curious, not malicious. "First you spend a month or so keeping me locked away and tormented, then you seal me in this stupid hunk of gold, then you help me when I'm sick, and now this? I don't understand you."

Yami tore away from Bakura, looking down at his lap once again. "As you asked, what does it matter to you?"

The thief frowned. "You don't want to answer? Heh. You expect me to suddenly be willing to accept that _you love me_ and you won't tell me what the hell you're thinking?" The thief stood abruptly. "Fine. Then there's no reason for me to stay." Yami flinched.

"Don't go."

Bakura glared at the bowed head before him. He grabbed the spirit's shoulders, shaking him gently as if to awaken him. "Then tell me what the hell you want!"

Yami leaned forwards into Bakura's arms. "I—I'm so sorry, Bakura….I….until recently, for as long as I could remember, I really didn't want to hurt you. Keep Yugi and his friends safe, yes, but never to actually hurt you. And…I wish I could say that was always true, but obviously that's not true, and I'm so sorry, really…" A tear worked its way down the ex-pharaoh's face, followed by more of its kind. "I can't honestly blame you for hating me, not trusting me, not wanting to be around me. Gods know I wish things were different, but what's happened has happened, and it doesn't change even if I wish it could more than anything in the world and—Bakura, I truly mean you no harm, and I'm so sorry for everything…" His voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "I love you…"

Bakura sighed lightly, acting annoyed to cover his thoughts. "Let go." He pulled away from Yami and exited the room.

_Fin_

Well, maybe. I'm strongly considering cutting it off here. A bit of a cliffie, I suppose—yes, I realize I'm evil—but still; it's a good place to stop, and the next part is still way OOC. Not that this wasn't. I just ran out of ideas for how Yami should act…Molly, I know you don't read my ramblings, but you'll remember when I was going around bugging everyone for ideas and we finally landed on 'ice cream?'? Yes, it was a few months ago. But still. This is where I was thinking at when I was asking for ideas. (Then I slipped in the whole getting sick thing, so the time hasn't been a total waste.)

I've had a lot of trouble with this whole Yami/Bakura sequence. Perhaps everyone has been able to tell. . But anyways, I think it's almost resolved. Though the next part is random, OOC, and completely impossible to comprehend. Even after all my work to come up with it. . And I tried so hard to keep this in the realm of vague possibility…but it's dragged on long enough. For the lady's sake, this whole sequence was supposed to be one chapter long, to start out with!!! Oh well. I'll leave you to your lives now.

Please feed the authoress!! Despite that she doesn't deserve it, since she's so slow….

Oh, and thank our school system for giving us our second snow day in what is rumored to be 30 years or more. . Otherwise I'd be trying to do other stuff still.

Arigatou gozaimasu!!

Oh, wow, at a size 12 font this is almost 9 whole pages!!! Ok, random comment….


	11. Chapter 11

I'm back again.

I know I've taken forever!!! I'm sorry. I have no really good excuse. I've had time to write, just no real inspiration lately….I could blame finals, or a Latin convention, but really, it's just a lack of will to sit and write. . Which is entirely my fault.

I get to switch math teachers now, thank the gods. I've heard Mrs. Whiting actually teaches…..Mrs. Errthum was awful. . She didn't even tell us all the rules for the stuff we were supposed to learn, and I'm in calc. How am I supposed to know that sin(x)/x leaves a hole when it cancels out?????

But that's done now. And I'm trying to write. By the way, if anyone cares, I do think I managed to fix the problem with Bakura acting completely OOC…..sorta. Now, instead of suddenly flinging him into complete out of character actions, I sort of ease him into it. I had no way of writing this with him in character….Yami would never figure it out. Nor would Bakura, I'm starting to think. He's taking his sweet time anyways….

And now, to the story!!! D

Chapter 11

Bakura walked calmly out of the game shop, or at least he looked calm, to the average bystander. Inside, he felt like his stomach was boiling. He blamed it on anger, and as soon as he was too far away for the ex-Pharaoh to see him acting so undignified, he broke into a furious sprint towards home.

He didn't bother to turn on the lights as he entered the house he shared with his hikari. He simply stamped to his room, slammed the door behind him, and threw himself on the bed to fume.

_Goddamned pharaoh! Can't keep his nose out of my business…all this idiot talk about sorry and having changed—heh, like I've never heard that before. Oh, I'm sooo sorry Bakura, I never wanted _you_ to get hurt, never mind that I was the one hurting you, never mind how much I enjoyed hearing you scream in agony, I never meant any of that….what utter _crap

But a small part of his mind was betraying him, whispering quietly, _he said he loved you. He never said that before._

_All right, then. Oh, Bakura, I'm sooo sorry, I never meant to hurt you, I love you, let's go fuck so I can get back to hating you and doing my best to destroy you forever. _

_What if he did change?_

_Riight. That's likely. _

The voice was persistent. _What if?_

_I'm ignoring you. See? I can't hear you. I can't hear you, I can't hear you, la did a did a….._

He heard the door slam downstairs. "Bakura, I'm home!!!!" The thief heard light footsteps leaping up the stairs. "Are you up here?" Ryou's head peeked into his room. "Yami?" There was a pause. "Yami, are you all right? Hey, 'Kura…"

"Go away." Bakura's voice was murderous. Ryou ignored it, walking over to sit on the bed by his yami. The spirit felt a slim finger poke his side. He growled and slapped at it, then turned over to glare at his hikari. "I said, go _away_."

"No. What happened, 'Kura?"

"Nothing. Nihil, nada, zip, zero, rei, nothing. Now leave me alone."

That goddamned finger was poking him again. "Hikari….."

"Yeeesss…?" The teen's voice was teasing, and gods be damned, that teasing always made him relax. _I don't _want_ to relax, though, let me fume in peace already!!_

"Stop that!"

"Not 'till you tell me what happened." Yep. Ryou was definitely teasing him. Bakura glared again, but his anger was losing ground.

"All right, all right. I give up. But you get to ask questions, I'm not gonna sit here and spill my guts to a little weakling like you." The spirit's words were harsh, but they were said with the air of an older brother giving in to a younger sibling's demands. He quickly sat up and stuck his nose into the air, purposely avoiding looking into his hikari's eyes. Bakura knew they'd be in full-force puppy-dog mode.

He could also hear the pout in Ryou's voice when the teen spoke. "Fine, be that way. Umm…..let's see. Yugi and everyone got out of school when I did, so it doesn't have to do with them….umm….as far as I know, Marik is still gone, so that's not it….and Kaiba-kun was in class today, for a change, so that isn't it…and it's not like you to get this mad at random strangers. So let's see, who's left….does this have something to do with Yugi's yami?"

Bakura flinched and turned his head to face the teen, glaring full-force again. "_NO._"

"Ha! I'm right, aren't I?" Ryou smiled happily. "So what about him…you….ran into him randomly on the street?"

"Nope." The spirit's voice wasn't quite so angry this time. It was a legitimate answer, not a way to get out of talking.

"Hm. He came here, then? I can't see you going to find him—" But Bakura was shaking his head again. "No? So you didn't see him on accident, and he didn't try to find you…did you go to Yugi's house, then?" Bakura's glare, though focused at the curtains, was answer enough. "Really? 'Kura, that's not like you. What happened next?"

"I'm not telling you, remember?" Bakura's voice was monotone, full of anger—but Ryou could swear he heard confusion, or even fear, as well, buried under it.

"All right, then. Be that way. So…you went to the game shop to see Yami…and knowing you two, you fought. Over what, though? Umm….did you fight over something that happened in the present time?" Bakura said nothing. "Yami that's not helpful."

"Sort of, then. Partly." The monotone anger was still there.

"So partly over something that happened in the past, I guess, as well. Over….something you said? Or something he said?" The thief nodded at this second guess.

"I would've thought he'd already said everything that made you mad enough to make you immune to it. Hmm, so something he hadn't said before, maybe?" Bakura nodded. "He's said before…umm…pretty much everything about hating you, you being a dirty thief, evil, twisted, insane…hm. So not those. What else is there? Something neutral wouldn't offend you this much, would it?"

"Nope."

"So maybe something opposite. Did he….ask to be friends?"

"That's something that friendship freak would say, not him."

"True. But am I on the right track, at least?" Bakura's glare hardened. "I'll take that as a yes. Something a little more drastic, maybe, though, or you'd just insult him back. So maybe…no. That wouldn't be right. All right, 'Kura, I give up. Tell me?"

Bakura sat silently for a moment. Ryou was just about to go over to him and poke the thief until he told, but he felt an odd prick in his mind, like a knock on his soul room's door. "You want to…show me?" The spirit nodded. "It's that hard to say? All right, then…" He hesitantly entered the hallway in his mind, where he saw Bakura waiting for him. The spirit turned and walked into his own soul room, leaving the door open for the hikari to follow.

Ryou entered, only to find himself in the living room of Yugi's house. He felt like a ghost, watching the scene unfold before him. Yami was standing on one side of the room, his shoulders slumped, his back to Ryou. Bakura was closer to the teen, obviously both furious and confused, yelling loudly at the ex-pharaoh.

…_the hell would you care if I hate you now? You're the one who caused it! You're--"_

"_No, stop…stop it, Bakura, please." Yami's almost pleading voice was tight, as if he were trying to hold back tears. _

"_Then tell me!!"_

_There was a moment of silence. Then a slight whisper filled the air; "…I—I love you."_

Ryou suddenly felt himself jolted back into his own body. He blinked rapidly, feeling his eyes water slightly. He must have left them open while he was watching Bakura's memory…

The memory certainly hadn't been what he'd expected. _I mean, I saw that Yami was upset when he left, sometimes, last week, but I thought they'd just been fighting again…I never dreamed…_

The hikari looked over at his yami. Bakura was leaning against the bed's headboard, knees curled up to his chest, pouting viciously. He looked angry, still, but confusion and now definitely a hint of fear showed through, though Ryou wasn't sure he'd have picked up on that last emotion without their mental link. "Yami….?" The teasing note was gone from his voice.

"Leave me alone." Bakura's voice showed his emotions clearly. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears…_he must hate showing so much weakness, even to me,_ Ryou thought. He reached over, wrapping his arms gently around the thief.

"It's OK, 'Kura. It'll be all right."

"No!" The spirit pulled away at Ryou's words, glaring fiercely. "You don't get it, hikari. I don't trust him, I can't, and why can't he just leave me the hell alone…" Bakura buried his face between his knees again. "I just want to never see him again." His tone was unconvincing.

Ryou shook his head gently at the spirit. "Why can't you trust him? What's he done? If you don't want to discuss the past with me, fine, but…look at now. He sent you to the shadow realm once or twice, yes, but never so deep that you couldn't escape, or that you were driven mad by the experience. And it was always to protect someone else. And he just spent a week taking care of you, when he didn't have to—"

"A ploy to gain my trust."

"It's a rather long-winded ploy, then. That's a long time to have you yelling at him, just to try to earn a trust he wanted to destroy. So I don't think that's it." Bakura didn't move. "Yami, I think he might be telling the truth."

"Too bad."

Ryou sighed. "Do you really want to push him away, 'Kura? If he really likes you so much…"

"I don't care." His voice was unconvincing again.

"Really? It sounds like it's bugging you quite a bit, for your not caring." There was a pause. Finally, the teen grew exasperated with the spirit's behavior, and said, "Yami, I know you had problems with him in the past, but there's really no reason for you to not trust him now. He hasn't done anything truly bad to you in over 5000 years. It's your decision, but I think he's serious when he says he cares about you, and if you want him to care as much as I think you do, then you should stop being silly and accept it."

Bakura's head shot up. His mouth worked for a moment before he managed to spit out, "Who the hell said I wanted him to care about me???" the teen was out the door and down the hall.

He heard Ryou call up the stairs, "Dinner will be ready in an hour or so, 'Kura."

-0-(Time Break)-0-

Bakura lay in bed, tossing and turning. Finally he sat up and glared at the reddish glow of his digital clock. 2 AM, and that _bastard_ still wouldn't get out of his mind.

For some reason, nor would his hikari's words. _Stop being silly and accept it…_That stupid voice in his head seemed to agree.

He collapsed back onto his pillows with an exasperated grunt. "Damn it all, make these voices go away…"

_Oh, but you should listen to us. _

He groaned. _Not you again…_

_After all, we make sense._ It sounded like the voice—or conscience, or spirit, or whatever the cursed thing was—was laughing at him.

_No you don't. I _don't_ want him to care about me, I _want_ to wipe him off the face of the earth. _Even his mental voice sounded unsure, to him.

_Fine. If you don't appreciate me, then I'll just leave, and see how far you get then. _

_Finally!!_ Bakura grinned triumphantly.

_But think about it….if you have to consider this for so long—maybe you liiiike him tooooo…_ Oh yes, his little crazy voice was definitely teasing him now.

_No. I hate him. Go away already. _But the thing was already gone.

And now there was nothing to argue with, to block out his thoughts. Two words simply refused to get out of his head.

_What if…_

-0-(Author Notes)-0-

Hehehe…what if what? Though I'm sure most of you have figured it out by now. You're all smarter than Bakura is acting, I'm sure. He really is slow, isn't he?

In any case…wow. I've managed to write all of the above in around 2 hours. . Guess my excuse of no inspiration is gone now. I just needed a thing to write on. (This laptop can only have one program other than music open without the music glitching, so I'm not distracted by addictive little things like solitaire.)

But that's not the point. Hm…what is the point? Oh, Molly, I know you don't read author's notes, but just in case, guess who inspired the pokey thing and the little voice of doom? Muahaha….6 years of close friendship does pay off, it seems, when writing.

Oh. After this fic ends—eventually—I have a few ideas for other stuff. Unfortunately, by the time I write one of them, I may lose inspiration for the others. So we may have to choose. I'm pretty sure we'll be visiting Ancient Egypt again….question of pairing. So far I have Bakura/Ryou with an evil Yami, Bakura/Yami with no hikari involved, Yami/Ryou with evil OC (as a more minor character, not in the main stream so much), or Bakura/Seto. Currently I'm leaning towards Bakura/Ryou or Yami/Ryou, but that may change. Yes, I know all my stuff is Ryou-centric. He's just perfect for the role, though!! In any case, any opinions, anyone?

Well. That's all, other than providing my little page break. Now, back to our little story….

-0-(End Author Notes)-0-

The sun had barely begun to light the eastern sky when Bakura set out from his home. His steps were determined, leading him directly to the very building he'd fled from the day before.

After all, he'd had a sleepless night to make up his mind about the situation.

Since he was walking slowly and the Game Shop was a fair distance away without a subway, Yugi had already left for school when he arrived. The shop wasn't open yet, but it wasn't so hard to pick the lock. Plus, it was much more fun than knocking.

He snuck into the building, making sure to make enough noise to alert the other spirit in the house. That way, if he was unexpected, he could fairly blame Yami for it. When he reached the kitchen, he heard the gentle noise of the television in the living room, just down the hall, and headed towards it. The thief saw a bit of tricolor hair peeking over the back of the sofa as he walked in, and smirked widely. Walking over silently, he reached around the back of the furniture and clamped his arms tightly around the ex-Pharaoh.

It seemed he had been too quiet after all, that or Yami hadn't been paying any attention whatsoever to his surroundings. The spirit jumped and turned quickly to face Bakura, eyes wide. "What—" He was cut off as a hand wrapped lightly over his mouth, muffling sound without cutting off breath. Bakura leaned down until his mouth brushed Yami's ear.

"Hmmm….not paying attention, are we?" His voice was quiet and seductive, barely more than a whisper. The spirit struggled in his arms for a moment, trying desperately to break free from the thief's hold, before surrendering to Bakura's strong arms. "There now, that's better. If you don't want people sneaking up on you, then you should really pay more attention." His smirk grew, if that were possible, and he released Yami's mouth, allowing the ex-pharaoh to talk.

Said spirit didn't speak right away, though. He stared silently at Bakura, various emotions flitting swiftly across his tanned features. Finally, he asked, "What're you doing here? I thought—" But the thief cut him off again.

"I needed time to think things through. I figured it out now." His words had turned sharp, clipped and spoken quickly, as if there were far more interesting and important things to get to still.

Yami frowned slightly. "And….you decided…?" In response, he felt two muscled but lean arms wrap more tightly around his shoulders. The thief's nose pressed gently into his hair.

"I thought it would be obvious." Bakura's voice was vaguely bemused. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"You'd be here either way, I think. The question is, is this what you've decided or a ploy to throw me off balance and steal my Puzzle?"

"What would I do with the hunk of gold? I had to get rid of the Eye, it wasn't compatible with me, remember?" Yami felt Bakura's lips pressed gently against the back of his neck.

"As I remember, there was something to do with 99 souls and blood…"

"As I remember, that wasn't exactly your choice."

"All right, then is this a ploy to gain my trust and use that for your revenge?"

"Hn. I would think 5000 years in a bunch of little gold puzzle pieces is revenge enough. Remember, that was my fault, wasn't it?" The thief's tone revealed the rhetorical nature of the question. (1)

"So what is this then?"

Bakura slipped over the sofa's back to sit beside Yami. He used one hand to gently pull the teen against his chest while pulling his chin up with the other. His eyes were smiling, but also a little sad. "Am I not allowed to be sincere, Yami?"

The spirit blinked. "Since when do you call me by nam—" He was cut off by a pair of lips pressing gently against his mouth.

-0-(End)-0-

Well, it's getting late (for me) and my head (and throat…and neck….and body) hurts, so I plan to go to bed now.

Heh. Be honest—how many of you thought I'd stick a lemon somewhere in there? Sorry, I can't write those. It doesn't work. . But it's fun to tempt people!!

(1): Rhetorical. I think it comes from the Latin word rhetor, which is a kind of teacher. So a rhetorical question is a teaching question….not a learning question. Ha!! Fun, fun. Words. By the way, we started learning Greek letters in Latin class the other day. It's rather fun. It's like a code—some letters are similar, while some are completely different. I like my Latin class. It's amusing—and really easy, contrary to popular belief. …I'll shut up now.

Wow, 7 pages or so (not including author's notes!) written over a 3-day period!!! I can't stay up so late on school days, usually…but I made an exception here. Hope you all enjoy it. But finally, Bakura's beginning to cooperate!!

The beginning of next chapter will probably be solid fluff. Oh joy…. . Maybe Bakura isn't so nice to this poor authoress.

Molly, prepare for me to pick your brain for nonobsessive fluff ideas.


End file.
